9781422269794

INTRODUCTION

Thanks to archaeological findings, ancient records, and modern technology, the roots of most European countries can be traced back thousands of years. From the Gauls of France to the Mycenaeans of Greece, historians have been able to identify the ethnic ancestry and cultural evolution of many countries with long-established senses of nationality. Specific details about Ukraine’s origins are minimal, but according to accounts from Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) historians, beginning in the fifth century CE, a group called the Slavs began migrating from their homeland north of the Carpathian Mountains into what is now Western and North-Central Ukraine as well as parts of present-day Russia and other surrounding areas. The Ukrainian national identity began to emerge during the 800s when Vikings founded Kievan Rus, the first major Eastern Slavic kingdom. The Norsemen went on to conquer Kyiv, which became the capital of Kievan Rus because of its strategic location on the Dnieper River. The kingdom of Kievan Rus would eventually make up parts of Belarus, European Russia, and Ukraine. Ukraine as we know it today is considered the “baby” of the European continental family, having officially been established as part of the Soviet Union (controlled by Russia) in 1922, and an independent country in 1991. In February of 2022, Russia launched an attack against the sovereign nation of Ukraine in an attempt to gain control of the country once again. The war dragged on into 2023, and was ongoing at the time of this printing. Today, considering any territory in conflict with Russia to still be Ukraine, it is the largest country in Europe proper (although Russia is bigger, 75 percent of it is in Asia). About the size of Texas, Ukraine is bordered on the south by the Black Sea and is surrounded by other Slavic countries including Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia. Its terrain is mostly flat with fertile plains, called steppes, which are used to grow abundant amounts of wheat and other grains. Ukraine is comprised of regions called oblasts. Certain regions have developed their own unique subcultures, which include recipes and culinary traditions. Based on these, the Ukrainian regions visited in this book are grouped as follows:

Ukrainian

6