Page 44 - Summer 2019 Journal

Many parents have their babies suck on pieces of lard instead of a pacifier!
BREAD BASKET OF EUROPE
Ukraine’s capital city, Kiev, is over fifteen
hundred years old. In most Slavic languages, the word “Ukraine” translates to “borderlands.” Throughout history, many different cultures have influenced the lands of Ukraine, ranging from Western and Slavic cultures to the nomadic horse people of the Eurasian Steppe.
Ukraine has some of the most fertile farm- lands in the world, earning it the nickname, “the bread basket of Europe.” The Ukrainian flag is even composed of two vertical strips of blue on top of gold,
which represent
blue skies and fields
of golden wheat.
Ukraine’s extremely
fertile soil, called
“chernozem,” is a
deep black color
found only in the
Eurasian steppes
and North Ameri-
can prairie lands.
During World War
II, Hitler took train loads of Ukraine’s soil back to Germany for study, and to this day, there is a black market for the valuable soil.
Although Ukrainians use this very fertile soil to produce foods of greater nutrient density, the soil qualities do not protect them from mod- ern diseases when they begin shifting toward modern foods. Sugar, vegetable oils and non- sourdough grains are the three biggest foods that wreak havoc on Ukrainian health. Today, it would be extremely difficult to find a Ukrai- nian eating a 100 percent ancestral diet. Even in remote villages, it is normal to see people in horse-drawn carts eating organ meats but having a jelly-filled donut for lunch.
Let’s go through each food group and explore some of Ukraine’s nourishing foods.
MEAT PRODUCTS
Ukrainians love their lard. Lard is the
country’s most consumed meat product—and the national food. The first time I visited the daily farmers market, I was overwhelmed by the amount of pork belly for sale. Lard is every- where and is prepared in many different ways.
The man in the business suit who ate a plate of lard all by himself ate it with three different seasonings. It is very popular to eat lard raw by adding it to a sandwich or just eating it as a small snack. It is also a component of soups and dumplings, and Ukrainians add extra chunks of lard to their cured and fermented meats. Many parents have their babies suck on pieces of lard instead of a pacifier!
Whole chickens are very popular and come with the head, neck, feet, liver, stomach and other organs. Most chickens sold in American
Slabs of lard at the butcher.
grocery stores are very lean with no fat, but Ukraine’s chickens are stew- ing hens with lots of fat. If you were to slaughter a hen, you would find inside various egg yolks in different stages of development from big to small. You can buy a cup of
these growing eggs at any Ukrainian market. You don’t see many steaks or lean meats in Ukraine. When Ukrainians do consume lean meats—such as rabbit—they are usually either fried in lard or slathered with butter, cream or sour cream. Unfortunately, lean meats are be- coming more popular as the belief that “fat isn’t
good for you” slowly starts to take root.
Cured meats have developed a not-so-good reputation in modern “healthy eating” circles, but ask yourself, “how did humans preserve meat before the advent of the refrigerator?” They cured it! In Ukraine, cured and fermented meats are huge. In the average grocery store, half of the meat offerings are raw fresh meat, and the other half are fermented or cured meats. If you look in the right places, you can find delicious cured and fermented meats prepared in a healthy man- ner. Whereas most modern cured meats have all sorts of nasty chemical additions, organic cured or fermented meats use all natural ingredients. Don’t be alarmed if the ingredient label lists “sugar”—look for the “lactic acid starter” in the ingredients. The sugar feeds the probiotic starter much like when you add sugar to ferment
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Wise Traditions
SUMMER 2019