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News

 

August 11. The third president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko (2005-2010), together with the Ukrainian marketing communications agency BrainTank plans to send honey to the front line for defenders of Ukraine.
The first batch of honey (approximately 25,000 sticks) was named after Stepan Bandera, one of the leading ideologists of the Ukrainian nationalist movement of the 20th century, and Taras Shevchenko, the most famous Ukrainian writer. It should be sent to Ukrainian soldiers in the near future. According to the ex-president, Shevchenkiv honey was collected in Shevchenko's native village of Morintsy, and Banderiv honey was collected in Bandera's native village of Stary Uhrynov.
Yushchenko suggests that subscribers name the next parties.

 

August 16. The Swiss producer of premium chocolate Lindt & Sprüngli Group has decided to leave the Russian market completely. Earlier in March, the company suspended business in the Russian Federation.
A total of 46 companies completely left Russia, including 1 alcohol and tobacco company, 6 food and beverage manufacturers, and 1 catering company. Another 1,114 are in the process of exiting. 

 

August 17. The court seized the property of one of the largest manufacturers of semi-finished products in Ukraine. During the pre-trial investigation, it was established that the beneficiary is a citizen of the Russian Federation. The investigation found that during 2019-2021, the company, which is a large taxpayer, evaded payment of 150 million UAH ($4 million 100 thousand). The law enforcement officers do not disclose the name of the company and its owner, but it is probably about TM "Yermolino". The Information Agency of the NGO "Anticorruption Human Rights Council" previously wrote about the revealed facts and connections of the "Yermolino Products" group with the aggressor country. The manufacturer's website states that TM "Yermolino" has temporarily suspended work in Ukraine.
Currently, the company's corporate rights and real estate with a total estimated value of more than UAH 350 million ($9.5 million) have been seized. The issue of transferring seized property to the management of the Agency for Search and Asset Management (ARMA) is being resolved. 

 

August 18. The Ukrainian brand of scarves and accessories Oliz released a silk scarf dedicated to the recognition of Ukrainian borscht as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. More precisely, recognition of the culture of making borscht. The difference is fundamental, because there is no unified recipe, only many local variations of the same dish. The picture for the handkerchief was made by hand.

 

Stories

 

Borscht from Mars, zucchini from Venus: a conversation between gastro researcher Vsevolod Polishchuk and botanist Oleksiy Kovalenko on August 12. We will leave a brief retelling here:
• In beets, the coloring substances are the same as in cacti - betalains. In other plants (currants, red cabbage), which can be used as dyes for borscht, these are anticyanins. In many cacti, it is the betalains that give the red color. So it would be an interesting experiment to compare the taste of beet borscht with borscht based on pitahaya, for example.
• In ancient times, beets were eaten raw. The wild beets were white, not red, as we are used to. It "turned red" in the process of acculturation. By the way, the content of betalains also affected the smell that raw beets have today.
• In fact, our "native" culture is sorrel. It has been growing on the territory of Ukraine since the last glaciation (ended about 11,600-11,700 years ago). Another Ukrainian "aboriginal" is the primrose that grows in our forests.
• The large poisonous hogweed that we are now watching out for (Heracleum sosnowskyi) came to Ukraine only in the second half of the last century. Almost every person has seen edible species of borscht, natural for our region, although not everyone knows them. Google European borage or Siberian borage. They were definitely consumed as food and even fermented into a drink like beer. In the sources of the times of Kyivan Rus, borscht is mentioned precisely as a plant. Later, at the beginning In the 17th century, there are references to soup based on borscht in Eastern Europe. It is quite possible that this was the first borscht.
• One of the cool substitutes for spinach is nettle. It is high in protein and lower in calcium oxalates, which can interfere with nutrient absorption. Another underrated vegetable is plantain.
• A very important insight - many dishes and ingredients that we consider "true", "that's how mother/grandmother used to make them" actually appeared in recipe books during the last 50 years. Olga Franko, the daughter-in-law of one of the most famous Ukrainian writers, Ivan Franko, writes in her book ("The 1st Ukrainian All-Practical Kitchen", 1929) about bechamel sauce, and Daria Tsvek, the author of culinary bestsellers of the 1960s and later years, uses mayonnaise as a base for the sauce, margarine instead of butter. That is, the recipes were adapted to the realities of the shortage of certain products in the Soviet Union. And what Ukrainian mothers and grandmothers cooked can actually be a very deformed inheritance. The situation is somewhat similar with many products. Corn and potatoes from America are now the basis of many daily dishes of Ukrainians. The popularity of the same spinach "pushed" nettles, plantains, sorrel, etc. out of our field of vision.
This is the first of a series of conversations between Vsevolod Polishchuk and writers about food. The project was organized by the Kyiv publishing house "Vikhola", which specializes in books by Ukrainian authors.

 

Analytics

 

In July, Ukraine lost the most grain due to fires - 317,000 tons, or 70,000 hectares. These are catastrophic losses, especially considering the impact of fire on ecosystems. Donetsk (25,283 ha), Mykolaiv (14,556 ha) and Kherson (10,843 ha) regions were the most affected. Ukrainian fields are burning from rocket attacks, artillery, mine explosions or damage to the ground by military equipment.
Local authorities do not always have the opportunity to estimate the total area of lost agricultural land. Therefore, Ukrainian scientists conduct research mainly with the help of satellite images.
In contrast to the previous months of the war, it was in July that the already ripe crop was harvested incredibly quickly from the impact of rocket fragments or artillery fire. In past years, there were also fires in the fields in the summer. But they occurred throughout the territory of Ukraine and were mostly associated with the burning of the remains of vegetation after harvesting by the farmers themselves. This year, all fires are concentrated exclusively along the front line and are unlikely to be related to the burning of plant remains.
In July, pastures and forests also burned: 16.7 thousand hectares of meadows and pastures (mostly in Donetsk region) and 1.1 thousand hectares of forests (Luhansk region).
Here we also leave a link to a Washington Post report on how Ukrainian farmers became targets for Russian missiles.

 

Volunteer Initiatives

 

August 24. The Ukrainian travel industry is organizing the “Ukrainian Charity Dinner” in Schindlerhof hotel, Nurnberg, Germany. This event is dedicated to the 31st anniversary of the Independence of Ukraine and is information supported by the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine
Venue's program includes:
• at 17:00 HoReCa Angels Networking Cocktail and press conference (by invitations only);
• at 19:00 Ukrainian Charity Dinner accompanied by music, stories, and a very pleasant atmosphere; 
• Ukrainian Crafts&Fashion Shop; 
• Photo exhibition “The Real Beauty of Ukraine 2022”.
During the event, one of the most famous Ukrainian chefs, Viktor Titov, will present modern Ukrainian cuisine with a very special menu.
Maria Banko, a famous Ukrainian food journalist, will take part as well. She will tell "A story of Ukrainian Cuisine: From Cossacks banquets to wartime recipes in the XXI century".
HoReCa Angels is a volunteer project created to help Ukrainian refugees find employment in the hospitality industry abroad. Today, there are about 2,000 vacancies in 21 countries.
For more information follow the link. 
For more details contact: gonchareno@gmail.com