Cook like a local - UKRAINE

Discover sour cheese, pickled watermelons and fried sprats in this ferment-loving corner of Eastern Europe

- OLIA HERCULES

Ukraine is a huge country – the second biggest in Europe – and its produce and dishes are as varied as its climate and landscape. And even though quintessential dishes such as dumplings, borsch and cabbage rolls appear all over Ukraine, even they vary from region to region.

Deeper, earthier flavours are dominant in the Ukrainian highlands in the north-west. Hutsul people (highlanders) eat dishes made with corn – the most famous is banosh, a Ukrainian version of polenta.

Forests are full of mushrooms, bilberries and strawberries; trout is found in mountain rivers; people eat lamb, commonly cook with thyme, marjoram and dill, and make delicious sour cheese called vurda. Curd cheese called syr, as well as thick, homemade soured cream, are ubiquitous across the country, too, and for good reason.