Ukrainian Borscht

Borscht is built on beetroot and a long-cooked stock, with cabbage, potato, carrot, onion and tomato, soured and finished with garlic and dill and served with smetana and pampushky, garlic bread rolls. Beyond that almost nothing is fixed: green borscht uses sorrel and no beet, Poltava versions use goose, Chernihiv adds courgette and apple, and every household argues its own. UNESCO added the culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking to the Urgent Safeguarding list in 2022.

What you actually see

• The regional versions - green sorrel borscht, Poltava goose, Chernihiv apple and courgette.
• The accompaniments - smetana, pampushky garlic rolls and salo alongside.
• The souring - beet kvass, vinegar or fermented juice depending on the household.
• The market stalls - the beets, sorrel and dill the dish is built from.

When to go

Year round; it is everyday food in every season. Green sorrel borscht belongs to spring. Cold borscht appears in summer in some regions.

Honest expectations

Restaurant versions are often sweeter and thinner than home cooking. Green borscht is a genuinely different dish and catches people out. Vegetarian versions exist but the classic is built on meat stock.

Nearby

Markets in any Ukrainian town sell the ingredients, and Kyiv restaurants serve several versions.