Anna Sakawsky grew up listening to tales of when her great-grandparents, whom she referred to as Baba and Gido, moved from Ukraine to Canada, forsaking “the old country” and finally settling in British Columbia. While her Baba Sophie was nonetheless residing when she was born, Sakawsky says her great-grandmother died when she was 4, forsaking a treasure trove of household tales and recipes, together with a darn good pierogi recipe that Sakawsky’s household nonetheless will get collectively to make every year.
“Pierogies are a simple recipe made from humble ingredients that go a long way toward feeding hungry bellies,” says Sakawsky, whose Ukrainian title is Anastasia. “They’re essentially dumplings filled with mashed potatoes that are boiled or fried and topped with loads of fried onions and sour cream.”
As battle continues in Ukraine, Sakawsky, who blogged about her household’s pierogi recipe, says she and her household have regarded to meals traditions as a technique to really feel related to their heritage.
And she’s not the one one: Across social media, households who share Ukrainian heritage are posting about their favourite recipes and the tales that go together with them, one thing Sakawsky thinks helps individuals removed from Ukraine really feel related within the midst of the turmoil.
“Now that Ukraine is at war with Russia and facing an uncertain future, it’s even more important to preserve our cultural heritage,” says the fourth-generation Ukrainian Canadian. “Hearing stories of family friends hiding in bomb shelters and fleeing the country has been difficult for me, but has been especially difficult for my mom who worries she may never be able to return to Ukraine or see her friends again.”
Sakawsky says it is easy issues like cooking pierogi, cabbage rolls or borscht, a stew made with beets, which have reminded her of who she is. “No matter where Ukrainians migrate to,” she says, “one comfort that we will always have comes from knowing we can always connect to our culture through food and remember what it means to be Ukrainian.”
Sarah Mock is a classically-trained chef and culinary blogger whose great-grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine by way of Ellis Island in 1906. Mock, who lives in Pennsylvania, lately tweeted about her household’s paska (or Easter) bread recipe, saying, “Part of my heritage is Ukrainian. Ukrainian Easter bread is something we make each year. This year it will hold more significance.”
Mock says paska bread is barely served by Ukrainian households at Easter. “When I was little I would get excited to go to my grandmother’s house for Christmas but then would be disappointed that there was not paska — that was just reserved for Easter,” she tells Yahoo Life. “It was sliced thick and spread with softened salted butter. The butter had to be salted. If there was any leftover, the next day my grandmother would make French toast out of it: the best French toast ever.”
As Easter approaches, Mock says she’ll be considering of the Ukrainian individuals as she prepares her personal paska.
“I know the traditions are important and run deep,” she says. “With hundreds of thousands on the move, households disrupted and lives shattered I know many will not be cooking their traditional Easter recipes. I will cook and carry on these recipes because so many don’t have the opportunity this year.”
Cathy Luciuk is vice chairman of the Regina, Saskatchewan department of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada (UWAC), a non-profit group that produced Ukrainian Daughters’ Cookbook, a e-book first launched in 1984 that is now in it is fifteenth printing attributable to its recognition with Ukrainian households worldwide.
“It’s been around a number of years and we’re well over 100,000 copies,” says Luciuk. “The group that [put the book together] still exists and was established in 1926: We’re a group of women from Regina and the ladies like to have some project intended to be a money generator because we earn funds that we then distribute to charity.”
Within the e-book, Luciuk says readers will discover details about conventional Ukrainian festivals and holidays in addition to sections on Ukrainian meals and recipes with pictures. And, whereas the e-book is obtainable on-line by way of used e-book resellers, Luciuk explains that ordering one immediately from the group by mail is one of the best ways to get a present copy of the e-book and ensure the UWAC can fund Ukrainian reduction efforts.
Luciuk says Ukrainian meals is “comforting,” constructed from contemporary elements and assured to channel recollections of house and household for individuals who eat it.
“Anyone from a Ukrainian background will always recollect recipes that baba made,” she says. “The foods bring back pleasant memories … I think people have good memories they have not abandoned and even when things are heartbreaking like they are now, people can repeat those happy experiences through a meal and be mindful of times with friends and family.”
Tamara Schroeder, who lives in Alberta, Canada, shared her personal expertise with Ukrainian Daughters’ Cookbook on Twitter, saying, “Show of hands, who has this? It was a rite of passage in our family.”
“I think I do,” replied one follower. “And if I don’t, my mom definitely does.”
“I used to,” mentioned another, “but I lost somewhere it and haven’t been able to find it.”
Schroeder says each of her paternal grandparents had been Ukrainian. She remembers receiving the cookbook for her thirteenth birthday after her grandmother died. “One of my aunts made sure that my cousin and I were each given a copy,” she remembers. “I only realized as I got older that most of the friends I met with Ukrainian heritage had been given one at some point in her life, whether it was new or handed down to her from another family member: I think it’s the bible of traditional recipes for Canadian Ukrainian families.”
Schroeder says whereas she remembers consuming Ukrainian meals rising up, she solely has one Ukrainian recipe in her arsenal: nachinka, a cornmeal casserole. Seeing the battle in Ukraine, nevertheless, has made her pledge to strive cooking extra dishes from the e-book.
“This crisis awakened a desire to reconnect with this part of my past that I knew so well in my younger years, but not well enough to execute or teach my own children as an adult,” says Schroeder. “I want my kids to understand these connections as they grow.”
What’s first on her checklist?
“I plan to start making some of the simpler things I remember from my childhood,” she says, explaining she’ll begin with borscht and nalysnyky, a sort of Ukrainian crepe. “I think food is a universal language and a way we connect with others. We all eat, whether it’s for enjoyment or survival. It’s a basic necessity that connects humans and allows us to share in a way we can all understand.”
“I think we crave that connection,” she continues, “especially in times of crisis. It can connect us to our past, our families and loved ones, but also people we’ve just met or maybe haven’t even met. I can’t think of many other things that bring people together as broadly and universally as food.”
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