>> Ukrainian borscht
On September 14, 2024, we will celebrate Ukrainian Borscht Day for the second time. For now, this is an unofficial holiday, but it is a good opportunity to prepare a traditional Ukrainian dish and enjoy it with the family.
Ukrainian Borscht Day is celebrated annually on the second Saturday of September. This date is unofficial, because in January 2022, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Humanitarian and Information Policy submitted the draft resolution No. 6361 “On establishing the Day of Ukrainian Borscht”. However, the parliament has not yet adopted it.
It is worth noting that the “Culture of making Ukrainian borscht” is included in the list of intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO.
Borsch in Ukrainian culture
Films:
“Borsch. The secret ingredient”
- Year: 2020
- Country: Ukraine
- Genre: documentary, culinary, Ukrainian
- Starring: Evgeny Klopotenko
- Director: Dmytro Kochnev
- Duration: 80 min.
Which Ukrainian borscht is real? On pork, poultry, beef or maybe mushrooms? How about sauerkraut instead of fresh and salty tomato brine instead of pasta? Should beets be boiled, baked or fermented? Have you tasted fish borscht? And with apples, dried pears or prunes? – Yevhen Klopotenko set out on a journey across Ukraine to find the secret ingredients of the main dish of Ukrainians.
Taras Shevchenko loved borscht with crucian carp, and in Ivan Franko's family, eggplant was always sliced into the dish. In Poltava region, dried pears are added, and in Kyiv region, prunes. In Galicia, the color of borscht is brown, and in Odesa, it is yellow-brown. Borscht will be cooked high in the Carpathians and in a military field kitchen near Berdyansk, in the dining room of the Chornobyl NPP and right in the center of Uzhgorod, in the residence of modern artists and in the village of Hutsul, in an exquisite Lviv restaurant and in a beekeeper's hut near the border with Belarus.
Books:
“Who spoiled borscht?”, Elizaveta Polovynkina
There is a dish in Ukraine that is revered everywhere – it is borscht, which occupies an important place in the cultural heritage of the country. There are many recipes for borscht, which vary depending on the region and family traditions. However, for Ukrainians, borscht is not only food – it is our cultural heritage that unites families and entire generations to this day.
“Who spoiled the borscht?” is an interactive publication by the Ukrainian writer Yelyzaveta Polovynkina about a brother and sister, Hannochka and Tim, who decided to prepare a family dinner – borscht – on their own. But will they have time to do it before the arrival of their parents? With this book, children will go on an exciting culinary journey. Here they will not only immerse themselves in an interesting story, but will also be able to express their creativity with the help of author's stickers depicting various borscht ingredients and even create their own “borscht” collage!
“Who ruined borsch?”
“Borsch and before borsch”, Yugen Klopotenko
Yevhen's special passion is Ukrainian cuisine. He is constantly searching for and modernizing ancient Ukrainian recipes and popularizing Ukrainian cuisine in the world.
In October 2020, on Yevhen's initiative, borscht was included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. This was preceded by 1.5 years of painstaking work: the public organization “Institute of Culture of Ukraine” was created, a “borscht expedition” was conducted throughout Ukraine, and a complex 12-stage preparatory work was carried out to collect and approve all the necessary documentation.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000On March 30, 2021, Ukraine submitted an application to UNESCO, and already on July 1, 2022, Ukrainian borscht was included in the list of intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO, which put an end to discussions about its homeland, because borscht is Ukrainian!
“Borsch and before borsch ”
“A brief history of Ukrainian borscht”, Yevgenia Kuznetsova, Sofiya Sulii
Let you drink flat white with coconut milk and order home sushi – but if a Ukrainian heart beats in your chest, you have there will be a need to cook real borscht. This is exactly what happened to Andriy, a simple guy who accepted the borscht with dignity.
This book could have been called “Odyssey of Borscht” if Odysseus had never traveled beyond Kyiv region in his travels, but sought answers to the fundamental questions of life and death in the cabbage market rows. Will Andrey discover the secret of real borscht? Go have a look. He tried.
“A short history of Ukrainian borscht”
“Captain Borscht”, Anna Anisymova
Very funny and fascinating stories about the fearless Captain Borshch, who refuels his yacht with borscht, boldly negotiates with Captain Okroshka, invents cutlet borscht and much more – will interest children and, let's say a secret, come to the aid of parents of young children.
“Red Borsch”, Oles Berezhny
“Red borscht” is a remix of sincere Ukrainian archetypes and stereotypes, tastes, dislikes and delicacies. With garlic, pepper and an awful lot of bad blood. There are typical Galician elephants and Mickiewicz's valenrodism, the entry of General Brusilov's troops into Lemberg and saboteurs on the island of Tuzla, the Trans-Dnieper art of rutting and the Okinawan art of Ryukyu, a Prussian bayonet, Uncle Vasya's Japanese dagger and oar, a Finnish sniper and a Red Army tank, black swans and penguins, “one and a half” in the Carpathians and a train to Chortopil, yellowed leaves of grandfather's “Kobzar” and shiny “Mercedes” from Kyiv… And a bunch of other unexpected and exotic goodies. Try this “Red Borscht” – you won't regret it. Delicious!
“Red borsch”
“Three hundred and sixty-five BORSCHIK”, Olena Shcherban
This is not a cookbook where you will find clear recipes, in which proportions you need to take which products. According to the author, this book is ethnographic. It has more than 400 pages, where readers can find not only 365 borscht recipes for every day, but also more than a thousand other dishes that are usually served at the table together with borscht.
The recipes collected in the book are not only Poltava region – Olena collected them all over the territory of Ukraine.
“Three hundred and sixty five BORSHKIK”
“Treasures of Ukrainian dialects: texts about borscht”
The collection of texts contains the records of explorers from different regions of Ukraine and demonstrates not only the peculiarities of preparing borscht – a culinary dish that has become one of the markers of Ukrainianness, but also its ritual significance.
Texts-narratives about the preparation of traditional Ukrainian borscht, consumption, ingredients, methods of preparation, recorded by informants of different ages are represented. The “sounds” of the dialect text will complement the audio recordings of informants from different parts of Ukraine.
“Treasures of Ukrainian dialects: texts about borscht”