Summer Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from Every Corner of Ukraine (Hardcover)

Staff Reviews

Olia Hercules, Summer Kitchens, is more than a celebration of summer's bounty, it's a tribute to the collective culture of the diverse people that call Ukraine home.  Through Hercules's recipes and story telling, Ukraine is revealed as a country with an ecologically rich terrain and a history marked by overcoming hardship.  The recipes she shares are at times easily overlooked for their simplicity, such as fermented baked milk, turnip salad and beet tops, but the stories she shares about their history and symbolism in Ukraine's evolution as a nation make this collection of recipes particularly felicitous despite publication in 2020.  

Broken into sections including ferments, breakfasts, soups, breads, vegetables, meats and desserts, the reader is treated to a sampling of dishes to be served throughout the seasons and an education in traditional methods of preserving, baking and serving dishes.  I'll certainly be making tomato mulberry salad, fermented apples in pumpkin mash, borscht with duck and smoked pears and flourless poppyseed cake as the garden gives and the year unfolds.  This heartwarming tribute to a culture once again threatened, gives context and hope for the resilience of the Ukrainian people