The most delicious onion soup was served at a pizza place in the Lukyanivka neighborhood.
It did not matter that it was an Italian restaurant.
You could get fantastic French cheese soup at a downtown restaurant on Shota Rustaveli street. One of the steakhouses on that street, named after the famous Georgian poet, also served amazing steaks.
At the same time, your go-to place for khinkali and khachapuri was “Tbilisi”: it was fascinating to watch how deftly the chefs held the khinkali by the tail or how skillfully they kneaded the dough for khachapuri Adzharia style.
A restaurant around the corner served gazpacho, even though it might have been more atmospheric to sip it in Spain.
Burgers and french fries taste just as good anywhere you go, but McDonald’s does not operate in Ukraine due to the war.
You could study geography at Kyiv restaurants. At the same time, it was only at home that you could feel the real taste of Ukrainian cuisine.
I pull out a pen and a recipe notepad. Then I make a phone call: “Hi mama! Could you please tell me how to make…”
Onions, carrots, beets, potatoes.
Meat, tomato paste, cabbage.
Bay leaf, salt, pepper.
Borscht is infused during the day, acquiring a richer taste. Made according to the same recipe, it tastes differently every time.
Borscht recipes can be found on Google. You can choose the one with prunes or beans. Based on veal or pork stock. Whatever you like best. But this is not the way people in Ukraine make borscht. Borscht is like a dowry that you inherit and pass on; like an old photo of your relatives who came from different regions but had borscht for lunch every day all their lives. Most probably, they had it with pampushky because your mama serves it that way.
Borscht is infused during the day, acquiring a richer taste. Made according to the same recipe, it tastes differently every time.
Your relationship with this dish undergoes a transformation: as a child, you are pressured into eating it; then you wish that someone will cook it for you; finally, you start making borscht yourself or look for a restaurant serving national cuisine.
“Good evening. Are you ready to order? What can I get for you?” a friendly waiter asks you.
“We haven’t tried borscht here yet. Let’s go for it now!”
The terrace of the oldest Ukrainian restaurant in Kyiv. Music is playing. The city has not been bombed yet. Visitors order varenyky, borscht or deruny. Ukrainian borscht is served with wheat toast, salo, and garlic on the side.
People take their foreign friends here to show off the national cuisine and treat them to the food that makes us stronger.
“Eat borscht to grow up strong,” we have being told since childhood.
The most delicious Ukrainian borscht is served at home.
The dish that has recently been inscribed on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage — as it deserves to be.
Author: Svitlana Stretovych, Ukrainian essayist, program director of Litosvita
Translator: Hanna Leliv
Illustrator: Victoria Boyko
Content Editor: Maryna Korchaka
Programme Directors: Julia Ovcharenko and Demyan Om Dyakiv Slavitski
If you think of yourself as a poet or a poetess and you are considering taking this path seriously, most likely sooner or later you will ask yourself this question: what can I do for poetry?
Few weeks ago (mid January it was)* I took part in a writer’s conference with other international writers in Kolkata, India. It was a panel discussion addressing the topic of “Writing for the post-pandemic world”.
The morning begins with a final farewell to a soldier in our yard. He died in the war. A message about this appeared in the neighbor chat yesterday, indicating the building number and the entrance. High-rise buildings, just like low-rise ones, can’t avoid loss in wartime. There are more than 800 apartments in our building. Is there at least one unaffected by the war?
Knowledge Domains and Keywords
Philosophy
Political Philosophy
Philosophy & Literature
Social Philosophy
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Music
Philosophy of Sport
African Philosophy
Arab Philosophy
Asian Philosophy
Latin American Philosophy
Western Philosophy
Ethos Pathos Logos
Ethics
Aesthetics
Somaesthetics
Universal Values
Natural Rights
Justice
Problem of Evil
Thinking
Bildung
Health
Wellbeing
Emergentism
Emergence
Complexity
Antifragility
Metamodernity
Epistemology
Sociology of philosophy
Interdisciplinarity
Improvisation
Futures studies
Futurology
Foresight
Social science
Sociocultural Anthropology
Sociocultural Evolution
Social Psychology
Community Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Soft Law
Democracy
Meritocracy
Polithea
Integral Theory
Social Identity Theory
The Spiral of Silence Theory
Education Management
Liberal arts education
Edutainment
Enlightenment
Economics
Creative economy
Project Management
Program Management
Social Entrepreneurship
Design Thinking
Philology
Linguistics
Etymology
Neology
Narratology
Writing
Human Ecology
Globalization
Urban Studies
Environment
History
Intellectual History
Ethnography
Ethnology
Communication Science
Social Capital
Art of Communication
Cross-cultural сommunication
Communication Management
Humour Studies
Програми Культурного Хабу реалізуються завдяки потужності та обороноздатності Збройних Сил України, через волю, професійну і фінансову участь наших мемберів та інституційних партнерів з 2022 року: European Cultural Foundation, MitOst e.V., BBK Landesverband Bayern e.V., Київської Бієнале.
Ми також глибоко вдячні всім тим колегам — культурним дипломатам — із ким ще не знайомі особисто, але відчуваємо та цінуємо вплив вашої праці.
The programmes of the Cultural Hub are being implemented thanks to the power and defense capacity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, through the will, professional and financial participation of our members, as well as institutional partners since 2022: European Cultural Foundation, MitOst e.V., BBK Landesverband Bayern e.V., and Kyiv Biennial.
We’re also deeply grateful to all those colleagues — cultural diplomats — who we don’t know personally so far, but we feel and appreciate the impact of your work.
MENU
FOLLOW US
CONTACT US
iculturalbusinesshub@gmail.com
open.university.u@gmail.com
Ukraine, Kyiv-Poltava-Chercasy-Ivano-Frankivsk-Lviv
Austria, Vienna
Netherlands, Amsterdam
© 2009 Improvisators Movement Jazz For Streets
© 2014 I Coworking Hub, I Business Incubator
© 2018 I Cultural Business Hub
© 2009-2023 this site is a copyright and trademark of
Cultural Business Education Hub, Non-Governmental Organization,
Nonprofit Institution, independent think tank
