Ukrainian-Jewish cross-cultural influences in language and cuisine

At the end of the nineteenth century in some cities and towns in these areas. had the highest concentration The presence among Ukrainians of of Jews in the world with some 30 percent such a numerous ethnic minority and of world Jewry residing in ethnographic the ongoing contact between Ukrainians Ukrainian territories. Jews made up 10 to and Yiddish-speaking Jews over five 15 percent of the population in Western centuries left an indelible reciprocal and Right-Bank Ukraine (west of the imprint on the languages of these two Dnieper River) and were a relative majority peoples and their cuisines.

Nu, let’s talk! Ukrainian and Yiddish: linguistic interaction Hundreds of Ukrainian loanwords have been adopted in the Yiddish language (for example, words for various agricultural products and the multi-expressive nu). Many Yiddish words and expressions have entered the , particularly urban speech and regional dialects. For example, Bukovinian Ukrainian speech absorbed expressions from Recipes for the dishes pictured can be found in the Cuisines section on UJE’s website. Yiddish, such as:

Head Office Dmytro Tyshchenko is a Ukrainian philologist and a Germanist Ukrainian Jewish Encounter moiry maty who specializes in Yiddish. He created the Yiddish-Russian (2013) 1508 Kenneth Drive “to be afraid” and the Yiddish-Ukrainian (2014) dictionaries. Mississauga ON L5E 2Y5 (Yid. hobn moyre) Canada Ukrainian influence is also evident in Jewish family Tel: +1 (905) 891-0242 tsuris names, many of which are identical with Ukrainian Ukraine ”rage, fury” surnames. Other Jewish surnames combine Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Ukrainian stems with Yiddish stems or suffixes. 29 Khreshchatyk Str., Room 50 (Yid. tsures “trouble, plight, aggravation, misery”) 01001 The suffix -enko was common among Jews in the Ukraine buty broigis z kym Kyivan region (e.g., Faibishenko) and the suffix -iuk Tel.: +38 (044) 38 99 777 “to be angry at somebody” in Galicia (e.g., Shlomiuk). Around 70 percent of (Yid. zayn broyges oyf emetsn) surnames of Ukrainian Jews derive from the names of towns or villages in Ukraine. (Based on a presentation metsiia by Wolf Moskovich, Professor Emeritus, Hebrew “something very good” University, at a UJE-sponsored conference in ukrainianjewishencounter.org (Yid. metsie “bargain”) Jerusalem, October 2010.) Other Nu, let’s eat! Description Ukrainian Jewish

Common dishes in (Czech, Slovak, Polish) Ukrainian and The name originates from the Old Slavonic word Braided kolo, meaning ‘circle’, ’wheel.’

It is not surprising that in the course of over Some of these foods acquired symbolic /Koylitch one thousand years of the Ukrainian-Jewish meaning in evolving Jewish traditions: braided encounter the national cuisines of the two bread (Ukr. kalach, Yid. challah/koylitch) peoples evolved to feature common dishes. became an essential feature of the Sabbath Jews who migrated from Germany to Eastern and Jewish festivals; filled dairy pancakes Beet soup Barszcz (Polish) Europe brought with them former food habits (Ukr. nalysnyky, Yid. blintzes) became a specialty but also adopted and adapted local food of the festival of Shavuot, which is associated customs. Jewish religious culture imprinted its with dairy products, and shredded potato Borsch Borsht own character on these foods to reflect the pancakes (Ukr. deruny, Yid. ) became requirements of , the Jewish dietary the hallmark of Hanukkah because they are laws. For example, forbidden ingredients such deep-fried in oil, a key symbol of this festival. Stuffed as pork in Ukrainian dishes were substituted pickles are a staple side dish in both Gołąbki (Polish) cabbage rolls with beef or chicken, and beef or chicken cultures, and for dessert—anyone interested would never be mixed with dairy foods. in a slice of roll or honey cake? Holubtsi Holeptses/ Holishkes

Pancakes rolled Bliny (Russian) with filling Naleśniki (Polish)

Nalysnyky Blintzes

Shredded potato Placki ziemniaczane pancakes (Polish)

Deruny Latkes

Stuffed dumplings of (Polish) unleavened Vareniki (Russian)

Varenyky/Pyrohy Varenikes