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Gastronomy
If you had to choose a traditional Ukrainian cuisine, then borsch is a no-brainer.
| Right: Cover of the Borsch booklet. |
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| Below: inside view of the Borsch booklet |
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If you were to peek beneath the stamp, you would find an English translation to the Ukrainian text that is to the left of the stamps. I'm sorry to say that this translation could be a lot better:
If you taste famous Ukrainian borsch, you may find out much about Ukrainian people, as a nation of good owners, creative individuals and cheery optimists, who feel taste of life.
Cooked with pork, the broth imbibes [sic] scent of potato and haricot. A sappy white cabbage and stewed red beet with vinegar will set the basic pace in the colour of this gastronomical performance. Roasted carrot with onion and tomato, together with piquant paprika and parsley's root will enrich such soup with the sense of economic stability and well-being. The most significant and concluding "chord" of cooking this Ukrainian sacral dish is adding pounded lard with garlic, spice, salt and pepper toward the end of the boiling.
Whitened with thick sour cream, sprinkled with green, a lavish Ukrainian borsch is ready for tasting. Have a good meal!
The "Have a good meal!" part is their translation of the Ukrainian expression "Smachnoho!" I think that a more accurate translation might be "Tasty!"
According to the label next to the stamp, Ukrainian borsch is:
- pork, red beet,
- cabbage,
- haricot [aka bean], potato,
- carrot, parsley,
- onion, lard, garlic,
- tomatoes,
- red pepper,
- spice, dill, salt,
- sour cream
The above must be a bit of borsch orthodoxy, because none of the recipes that I've tried had ever included lard.
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