Ukraine - Our 22nd Meal

For our 22nd country date night, I cooked a meal in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. (I don't like empty gestures, so also made some donations to charities helping Ukrainians affected by the war, link below.*)

My Samet ancestors are Russian/Ukrainian in origin. At the time they immigrated to the US, their hometown (Radyvyliv) was Russian (occupied? I don't know enough of the history), but it is now part of Ukraine. So I feel a more personal connection with the suffering there.

The meal turned out pretty well, I thought. Compared to many of the meals we have had, I found the food (like the borscht and varenky), to be more familiar. The kysil was the exception, being a much thicker consistency than we are used to in beverages.

Can't go wrong with borscht. Kysil may be more of an acquired taste.

This sausage had an unfortunate appearance... 

I also got a very visceral understanding of the phrase "seeing how the sausage gets made." I had to grind pork fat to make the sausage, and there was still skin and a nipple attached... which was rather startling for me and made me a bit queasy. The fact is though, that that's real life... if you eat meat, you are eating dead animals. It's just that most Americans have a very antiseptic experience of food. I think it's better to have a more direct connection to the animals whose lives you take, so you are more appreciative. (Or to be vegan or vegetarian, if you object to taking animal life.)

These paska are a traditional Easter bread. They were delicious (gifted two to neighbors) and quite attractive, I thought, though I liked their look better before they were finished with icing and sprinkles.

The Kiev Cake was a labor of love!! Turned out deliciously though. My first time eating a whole hazelnut.

After dinner we watched the film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), about the Hutsul people. It was vividly colored and quite interesting.

When? March 14, 2022

Who cooked? Lauren

What's for dinner? (Recipe links) 

Borscht, kovbasa, varenyky (I sort of looked at different recipes but this pierogi recipe is close to what I did), paska, kysil, Kiev cake

 

Ukraine Stats

• Population: 44.13 million (California has 39.4)
• GDP: 42nd in the world
• Life Expectancy: 71.19, 125th in the world (the US is 40th)
• Founding Date/Age in 2022: These are always messy! Paraphrasing Wikipedia slightly-- "after the Russian Revolution the Ukrainian People's Republic was formed in 1917, but was forcibly reconstituted into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a founding member of the Soviet Union in 1922. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine regained independence." But we'll call it 1991/31 years old... a bit younger than me.
• Official Language: Ukrainian
• Rankings -- Largest exporter of sunflower seeds

*Charities to support Ukrainians affected by the invasion: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1082992947/ukraine-support-help

Madagascar - Our 21st Meal

For our 21st country date night, almost 2-years to the day after our first, Mark made us a beautiful meal from Madagascar!

A lovely spread...

Malagasy Romazava, a stew with beef and chicken. This was delicious. You eat it served over rice, which is the staple food of Madagascar. I would definitely eat this again. (Our infant son had some for lunch the next day, and he liked it too!)

Ravitoto sy Henakisoa – literally translated as "cassava leaves and pork." This is a classic Malagasy dish. Mark enjoyed it. I wouldn't say I loved it, but I'm not a big fan of dark leafy vegetables in general (even though they are very healthy for you), so nothing against this dish per se.

Mark had a funny experience shopping for these ingredients at Bah African Store. He couldn't find the cassava leaves and asked the African (owner? clerk?) for help. She helpfully directed him to the freezer. When pulling them out she looked him up and down and demanded skeptically, "Who's gonna cook dis? YOU?" 😂 Well, a fair question... I guess he isn't the traditional cassava leaf consumer...

Lasary (a generic term for side dish or condiment). These are curried vegetables with vinegar. DELICIOUS!  I would eat these anytime.

In the documentary we watched, we learned that Madagascar split off from India and Africa. Obviously that was long long ago, but it is still fairly proximal to both. I always thought of curry as an Indian or Asian flavor, but I guess Madagascar has its curries too, being in the same spice region.

Koba Ravina, a gelatinous steamed banana pudding with ground peanuts on top. I would say we were not big fans of this, but it was fun to try. (We gifted the rest to a neighbor via our Buy Nothing group, and they said their family liked it!)

Delightful vanilla pudding, made with a real ($9!) vanilla bean from Madagascar. 

Madagascar supplies ~85% of the world's (natural) vanilla, which is an expensive crop. But it's also one of the world's poorest countries. This seems like a great injustice to me. It seems (from Google) that a history of colonial exploitation is a big factor in why the country is so poor (in addition to government corruption, lack of infrastructure and education, geographic isolation leading to a high cost of trade, and a small population). Madagascar was a French colony from 1896 to 1960.

Madagascar does not really have a cinematic tradition, probably in part due to poverty. This has been eye-opening for me in this project, that some nations essentially have no movies, and therefore are missing out on this critical way to share the voices of their people and their stories with the world. Unless someone comes in and does a documentary, which is not the same as hearing from the people themselves. 

So, acknowledging this, we watched the David Attenborough-narrated BBC documentary "Madagascar," about the island's wildlife. Only at the very end did it touch on the people at all, pretty much to say that they are culpable in the habitat destruction and hunting of endangered species like turtles and lemurs (though they did have one local guide who was a champion of the rare reed lemurs). But of course, these people are hungry and just trying to survive... Anyway, I made a donation to the Duke Lemur Center - Madagascar Conservation Programs, a group I found which tries to help the lemurs by helping the people.

When? March 7, 2022

Who cooked? Mark

What's for dinner? (Recipe links) 

Koba ravina, lasary, Ravitoto sy Henakisoa, Romazava, vanilla pudding

 

Madagascar Stats

• Population: 27.7 million (Texas has 28.6)
• GDP: very low, 118th in the world 
• Life Expectancy: very very low at 67.39, 139th in the world (the US is 40th)
• Founding Date/Age in 2022: the kingdom dates to 1540 / 482
• Official Language: Malagasy, French
• Rankings --
• Largest vanilla producer
• Highest commercial bank prime lending rate (61%) -- it's 4% in the US. Not sure what this means exactly, but it can't be good for their citizens...