Culinary Commentary

Well this week was a doozy! I gave another workshop, presented at a conference, met with English teachers at my university, observed some classes, and celebrated Teachers’ Day ( a big yearly shindig held near the end of September). I think today is officially the day, but we had our party at the Resource Center Friday evening. All that aside - I want expound on a subject that makes both me and Joe very happy and able to relax after a hard week’s work: food.

As you can see, cabbage, rice, beef, chicken, salmon, tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, potatoes, mayonnaise, eggs, and rice are typical ingredients. Mushrooms are popular, but the guidebook said not to eat them because they retain radiation. With Chernobyl 60 miles away, I don’t tend to eat them. Joe thinks I’m a bit too paranoid. Beets are popular too - so I owe you a picture of “borsht” (beet soup) soon. Chicken Kiev really exists here, and although the guidebook said that only foreigners eat it, we have seen otherwise. Joe witnessed a local ordering 9 of them ‘to go’ the other day. They consist of little fried “footballs” of white chicken meat with either cheese or butter inside. The outside tastes just like the cornflake breading my mom used to make… really! As you can observe, there are quite a few dishes made with thin crepe-like pancakes wrapped around meat or cheese, and even apples (those are served with jam). Every one of these is offered with cream (tastes like a mild sour cream). Very delicious! There are also “vareniki” which are ravioli-like shells encasing meat, cheese, or cherries! The cherry ones are reminiscent of cherry pie and are served with both cream and sugar sprinkled on top (one of Joe’s favorites!).

The reason we have been able to try so many of these foods is due to one sacred restaurant: Puzata Khata! This place is the holy grail of national cuisine, is affordable, close-by, and most importantly - cafeteria-style! So, if you can say ‘this’ (“tse”) and you can say ‘please’ (“bud laska”) - that’s Ukrainian by the way - you can try just about everything! This restaurant is a chain and has at least 3 locations around the city. Their locations pretty much dictate which parts of town we frequent on weekends!

Sometimes we get a taste for something more familiar, like pizza. It is pretty cheap (around $5) but we have trouble reading the menu! So we’ve learned to say a few key ingredients and order the same pizza every time. The beers are big and cost around $1. In our neighborhood there’s a little dive which sells the big beers for 60 cents. I didn’t really drink beer till I came here - can I afford not to?

Back home we eat salad and veggies a lot - here, aside from the aforementioned items, lettuce is hard to find. But we did find it at the “Zhitni Rinok” which is a huge market near our neighborhood in an old soviet-style building. The outside has stalls with people selling everything from eyeglasses to plastic buckets. Indoors they have food, clothes, and some housewares. I actually found masking tape yesterday there! It’s a great place to poke around. Well, to get back to my point. We found lettuce and spinach there - quite expensive (the lettuce is about $2 a head) but well worth it. It’s imported from Belgium, I think. So, Joe is able to recreate his salad masterpieces putting grilled chicken on top. We’ve seen nothing like these in any restaurant.

OK, so that’s an introduction to food in Kyiv. Tomorrow I’m flying to Odessa to give a presentation at the Teacher Training Institute. I’ll be sure to check out the ‘eats’ there and let you know if they’re anything to write home about.

P.S. Today before we came to the Internet Cafe, we ate lunch at McDonald's - really we NEVER eat there in the States, but Joe was craving a fish sandwich. I broke down and had a "Big Tasty" - a charbroiled burger with two slices of yellow cheese, some kind of special sauce, lettuce, and tomato on a sesame bun. I couldn't help but have a vague recollection of John Travolta talking about some similar experience in Pulp Fiction... I forget the details.