Shopper's Delight

In addition to the vendors, growers and cooks we have met across Ukraine, the Pickle Project also engages shoppers to learn more about what they buy, where and why.


We met Vera on a hot and steamy July day at L'viv's bustling Krakivsky Bazaar. Vera has been coming to Krakivsky for 10 or 15 years. She likes this market and knows most of the vendors here. She smiles, exchanging "dobry dehns" as she makes her way down the colorful aisles piled high with produce.



This afternoon, nestled in Vera's red "New York" market bag are carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, sweet peppers and potatoes. She told us she plans to make borscht (the beets are already at home, she said) and a fresh salad for the evening meal.

A Beautiful Feast

Just a short post, highlighting this great picture.  It was sent to me by my friend Olga Cherems'ka of the Kharkiv Literature Museum,  and is of a lunch at her son's school,  at a special folk culture day, where the teachers prepared special dishes.  What's to eat?  Here's her description:

There are pancakes (mlyntsi), ham (shynka), meat "kruchenyky", baked pumpkin with dried fruit, sausages, cabbage, fish aspic (kholodets'). The bread which is decorated with patterns called loaf ("korovaj"). Square bread in the left corner - a pie with mushrooms. 

Now there's a school lunch.  Enjoy!  And don't forget,  Ukrainian friends and colleagues, and friends and colleagues in Ukraine (we know some of both) we love to see your pictures, hear your stories, and share with our blog readers.  Thanks Olga!

Ukrainian Christmas, San Francisco Style

Olga Trusova, our very first supporter on Kickstarter,  is our guest blogger here.   Enjoy her mouthwatering description of a traditional Svyata Vercherya meal in San Francisco.   If you have recipes, meals, and photos to share about your Ukrainian food traditions, please share!

On January 7th, we celebrated Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas. Twelve meatless dishes were served with the first rising star during Svyata Vecherya. Since there is only a handful of places like Veselka in the Bay Area (Renaissance, Fandorin, Russia House, and Babushka, among the few), I decided to cook this traditional Ukrainian Christmas feast at my home in San Francisco. 

Born in Odessa to a Ukrainian mother and a Russian father, I consider myself an Odessitka above all. Odessa, a Ukrainian city on the Black Sea, combines the cultures and flavors from various parts of the world, brining traditions and passions of Ukrainians, Russians, Moldovans, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, Jews into one delicious party. Borscht and pirogi, wine and lavash, brinza and gefilte fish - these are some of the staple foods of an Odessit, and they deserve a separate blog post all together. But for Svyata Vecherya, I decided to focus on cooking traditional Ukrainian food for my friends and family, as a way to celebrate my mother's heritage and to give American folks a chance to try authentic Ukrainian dishes. 

Our twelve course meal consisted of kutya, zakuski (sauerkraut, pickles, herring, smoked fish, pickled mushrooms), borscht and garlic pompushki, vareniki with sour cream, honey cookies and Russian candy, accompanied by whortleberry mors, kvas, rose-hip drinks, and lots of vodka. When it comes to borscht, I can talk for hours about my love for the beet soup. It seems like every family in Ukraine has its own borscht recipe - I, of course, follow my mom's and will not reveal its secret ingredient to anyone. Kutya, on the other hand, deserves some explanation. It is kind of a cross between pudding and porridge, made with poppy seeds, poppy milk, toasted walnuts, wheat berries, honey, raisins, and served cold primarily during Christmas. If you know the history of kutya, please share it, as kutya is quite fascinating and seems to be a very ancient creation (maybe even an early aphrodisiac). 

 Zakuski, or appetizers, were purchased from the Royal Market & Bakery on Geary Street - a small "Russian ghetto" in San Francisco, where I get my Russian/Armenian food fix from time to time. My neighbor Mary brought an amazing homemade herring from the Nordic House in Berkeley. My friend Kara brought potato and cheese vareniki, or dumplings, prepared according to her grandmother's recipe. We were very lucky to have such an amazing feast and such a joyful Christmas this year! 

Of course, for an authentic Svyata Vecherya, a cook uses only local ingredients. It's an opportunity to dig into those pickled and preserved goods that make winter so comforting. So I'm already thinking about how to adapt our next Christmas meal to my life in California. Looking at the Epicurious seasonal ingredient map of where I live now, I see so many exciting ways in which I can stay close to this land as well. Avocados, kumquats, kale, swiss chard are among a few exciting foods in season at the moment. What would Svyata Vecherya look like with those ingredients in place? After all, this pescaterian meal was created in celebration of Christmas, for being grateful for the gifts given throughout the year, and for gathering the family together during one of the coldest months of winter to enjoy many dishes prepared with what the land provided. 

Z Rizdvom Hrystovym! 

Historic Food Images 3: From L'viv

Historic food images I purchased at the outdoor market in L'viv.  They appear to be relatively new photographic (not digital) reproductions of historic photos, with no location or other information.   But, a close look reveals some interesting things.  Above, market vendors, in L'viv, I believe, with products for sale.   The crack tells me it's from a glass plate negative, but I can't quite make out what the women are selling--nor do I know L'viv enough to identify the location.  Any guesses?

Here's a closer view in a different photo.  The strings remind me of the strings of dried mushrooms you still see sold here.  Or?

Just a very nice view of a Ukrainian village house.  Based on my limited knowledge,  directly over the fence is a flower garden, with a larger kitchen garden out back.    Today, in some Ukrainian villages houses are hidden behind solid, higher fences--so much harder to take a peek at someone's garden!

It's difficult, anywhere, to find nice photos of people just having ordinary, everyday meals, not holiday ones, not picnics.  So although I didn't know whether this was Ukraine or Poland or somewhere else,  I just enjoyed this man's informal table with his glass of wine and those familiar soup plates that usually contain borscht.  What do you see in this picture?