Buy Book "Ukraine. Food and History" in Ukrainian

In my collection I have many books about Ukrainian cuisine, from Olga Franko to modern popular authors. But believe me, this is the book I want to review again and again! Modern presentation of dishes, beautiful dishes, laconic decor. After reading it, you want to personally get acquainted with the cuisine of each and involved chefs. And most importantly, this is the book I want to give to all my gastro-friends. It will be great when the book appears in the English version and will be an ideal gift for foreign partners and acquaintances to get the right idea of our cuisine

You should write a review of a book with recipes not on the first day you buy it, but after you have cooked something.

I ordered it a few months ago, when it was on pre-sale on the publisher’s website, but there was no way to leave a review. I thought it was strange that there were so many borscht recipes in it, 6 of them, out of a total of eighty. Because I know how to cook borscht, for one thing. But after I cooked borsch with catfish and drinking borsch, I realized that these people know what they are doing and why. I also made vegetable caviar, and it’s worth making now, although it may seem like a simple thing to make, but the recipe has perfect proportions and rhubarb, and it’s such a good caviar that you could serve it in a restaurant. Separately, I want to say about cabbage rolls in beet leaves, no one has ever cooked them in our country, but again, it’s faster in season, it turns out delicious and beautiful, to roll cabbage rolls from beet leaves, which are plentiful in every garden. That’s why my first skepticism that the book contains seemingly banal and familiar dishes was dispelled after the first recipe.

And then there are the texts, photos, and the overall look of the book. My daughter lives in Italy, and she says that books like this are twice as expensive there, so she’s going to take it as a gift to her friend, but if you’re taking it as a gift, keep in mind that it weighs about 2 kg.

This is the most beautiful food book I have ever seen in Ukraine. I used to bring such books back from business trips, but I’ve never had a similar edition to give to colleagues from other countries. I wanted a modern design, a text without templates and some Soviet platitudes like “fertile lands, generous housewives”. It is elegantly, stylishly, easily and interestingly written. I especially liked the section on culinary diplomacy, this area definitely needs to be developed and finally forget about the “Solokha” style presentations of Ukrainian cuisine. I googled the authors because I had never heard of Ukrainian cuisine researchers Olena Braichenko and Ihor Lil, and their educational and popular science work is simply amazing. The only thing I don’t understand is why this book is not yet available in English. It can definitely be a great gift, a souvenir that you would not be ashamed to give to your most demanding partner or English-speaking friends. There are hundreds of such books published in the world, and it’s great that Ukraine has finally got its first one of this level.

Every Ukrainian should read it and give it to a foreign friend. No pants, jugs, or fat jokes. Here, the conversation about food is serious, from people who have thoroughly studied the topic, but in a lively, easy language. Simple and deep. I ordered the book on the website of the publishing house YzhaKultura even earlier, although I had my doubts because of the slightly steep price. But every hryvnia is justified here, the text + recipes + photos are all top-notch. Such a light and airy cover may give the impression that this is a thin and light book. But it’s not, it’s a real tome in a super-cover, which, if you take off, you will see another one with the name engraved in gold on matte and somehow especially pleasant to the touch paper. Holding the book in my hands, I can’t understand why there hasn’t been anything like it for so many years, something stylish, modern, but with knowledge. I haven’t cooked anything from the recipes yet, but there are different ones of varying complexity, and I’m sure everyone will find in it both a recipe from childhood and a modern salad or appetizer that you won’t be ashamed to put in front of the most important guests. In short, I recommend it 100%.