Before you even taste the sweetness of the beets or the tang of vinegar, there’s a deeper story simmering in this pot. This is not just a soup; it’s a reflection of human endurance during one of the darkest and most censored chapters of the 20th century. The dish is simple, humble, and rooted in history, born out of a time when flavor gave way to function, and food became a matter of life and death.
In recreating this recipe, I wanted to capture more than just the ingredients, I wanted to capture the context. To stand in a kitchen, peel a beet, and know that someone, ninety years ago, was doing the same under the threat of famine and political terror. Food, in this case, becomes a quiet but powerful testimony. And borscht, with its deep red hue and layers of flavor, tells a story that textbooks often overlook.
This version of Ukrainian borscht is based on a meatless recipe from Практична кухня (Practical Kitchen), a landmark cookbook published in 1929 by Olha Franko. Franko, a pioneer of Ukrainian culinary writing, compiled everyday recipes from the Galician region, focusing on home cooking that blended practical necessity with cultural preservation. Her cookbook was not only about what to cook but how to uphold identity through food, especially during times of scarcity.
Published just before the full weight of Stalin’s policies crashed down on Ukraine, Practical Kitchen offers a rare glimpse into what Ukrainian households were cooking before collectivization gutted the countryside. The recipes—often modest, efficient, and vegetarian—show how food traditions survived even as everything else was stripped away. Borscht, in particular, was and still is a symbol of the Ukrainian table, adaptable and tied deeply to the land.
Read the full story and recipe here:
👉Traditonal Ukrainian Borscht Recipe from the 1930s – Eats History
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