Local Dishes

1. Борщ

   Borshch

   Borscht

   Usage

   Red beetroot soup. UNESCO inscribed "Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking" on its Urgent Safeguarding list in 2022. Usually served with smetana (sour cream) and pampushky

2. Вареники

   Varenyky

   Varenyky (filled boiled dumplings)

   Usage

   Boiled unleavened dough parcels. Fillings include potato, syr (fresh curd cheese), sauerkraut, cherries and mushrooms; the cherry ones are a dessert. Pelmeni, the small meat-only kind, are a different dish

3. Голубці

   Holubtsi

   Cabbage rolls

   Usage

   Cabbage leaves rolled around meat, rice, buckwheat or mushrooms and braised. The singular is holubets

4. Деруни

   Deruny

   Potato pancakes

   Usage

   Grated potato fried into pancakes and served with smetana. Most common in the north and west. Caution: the singular derun has "extortioner" as another meaning, so always use the plural deruny for the food

5. Сало

   Salo

   Salo (cured pork fatback)

   Usage

   Salt-cured (sometimes smoked) pork fatback, sliced thin and eaten raw with dark bread, garlic and onion. It is not cooked, so anyone avoiding pork should watch for it

6. Холодець

   Kholodets

   Meat aspic

   Usage

   A cold starter of meat or fish stock set into jelly, eaten with khrin (horseradish). A fixture of festive tables

7. Кутя

   Kutia

   Kutia (sweet wheat dish)

   Usage

   Boiled wheat or barley with honey, poppy seed and walnuts. A winter holiday dish served on Sviatvechir (Christmas Eve) alongside uzvar; not a year-round menu item

8. Пампушки

   Pampushky

   Pampushky (garlic buns)

   Usage

   Small round yeast buns. The version brushed with garlic and sunflower oil is what comes with borscht; sweet versions also exist. The singular is pampushka

9. Сирники

   Syrnyky

   Syrnyky (curd cheese pancakes)

   Usage

   Fried patties of syr (fresh curd cheese), a breakfast staple served with smetana or jam. Note that syr covers both fresh curd and aged cheese

10. Налисники

    Nalysnyky

    Nalysnyky (filled crêpes)

    Usage

    A thin mlynets pancake rolled around a filling, most often fresh curd cheese. Unfilled ones are called mlyntsi instead

11. Галушки

    Halushky

    Halushky (plain dough dumplings)

    Usage

    Torn or cut pieces of unleavened dough, boiled. Unlike varenyky they have no filling; served either in soup or as a dish of their own

12. Млинці

    Mlyntsi

    Thin pancakes

    Usage

    Thin pancakes from a runny batter, served with smetana, honey, jam or a savoury topping. The singular is mlynets

13. Юшка

    Yushka

    Yushka (soup, often fish soup)

    Usage

    Means a meat, potato or fish soup; in practice it most often means river-fish soup. The liquid part of any dish is also called yushka

14. Капусняк

    Kapusniak

    Sauerkraut soup

    Usage

    A soup built on fermented cabbage, usually with pshono (millet). It tastes distinctly sour

15. Куліш

    Kulish

    Kulish (thick millet pottage)

    Usage

    A thick soup, normally of millet. Cooked on meat stock or water and flavoured with salo, onion and garlic. Its genitive is kuleshu

16. Банош

    Banosh

    Banosh (Carpathian corn porridge)

    Usage

    A Carpathian (Hutsul) dish: cornmeal cooked in cream or sour cream and topped with brynza sheep cheese, shkvarky cracklings and mushrooms. The dialect form is banush

17. Бограч

    Bohrach

    Bohrach (paprika soup)

    Usage

    A Zakarpattia dish of meat, sweet pepper, tomato and potato. The name comes from Hungarian bogrács, a cauldron. Heat is added with a paste called erosh pishta

18. Кров'янка

    Krovianka

    Blood sausage

    Usage

    Pork blood mixed with buckwheat or rice groats, meat, salo and onion, stuffed into casing. Also called kashanka. Avoid it if you avoid blood or pork

19. Домашня ковбаса

    Domashnia kovbasa

    Homemade sausage

    Usage

    A common wording on market stalls and menus. Usually pork, seasoned with garlic and pepper, coiled and baked or fried

20. Крученики

    Kruchenyky

    Kruchenyky (stuffed meat rolls)

    Usage

    Thinly beaten meat or fish rolled around mushrooms, grains, cabbage, onion or cheese and fried. Also called zavyvantsi; the singular is kruchenyk

21. Вергуни

    Verhuny

    Verhuny (fried sweet pastry strips)

    Usage

    Strips of sweet unleavened dough fried in fat, also called khrusty. Caution: the singular verhun has a separate sense, a variety of tobacco, so use the plural for the pastry

22. Пиріжки

    Pyrizhky

    Pyrizhky (small filled pies)

    Usage

    Small pies, baked or deep-fried, with potato, cabbage, liver or cherry inside. Sweet and savoury ones sit side by side at stalls, so ask what is in them. The singular is pyrizhok

23. Гречана каша

    Hrechana kasha

    Buckwheat porridge

    Usage

    An everyday staple and side dish made from hrechka (buckwheat groats), served alongside meat or on its own with milk and butter

24. Паляниця

    Palianytsia

    Palianytsia (round wheat loaf)

    Usage

    A round wheat loaf. A crescent cut is slashed across the top before baking, which lifts one edge into a lip

25. Львівський сирник

    Lvivskyi syrnyk

    Lviv cheesecake

    Usage

    A Lviv (Galician) dessert: rich sieved curd cheese baked and covered with chocolate glaze. Note that the plural syrnyky means the breakfast pancakes, a different thing

26. Київський торт

    Kyivskyi tort

    Kyiv cake

    Usage

    Layers of nut meringue set with buttercream. Made by the Kyiv confectionery factory, it has some seventy years of history and is a standard souvenir

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