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The home style Ukrainian of Village House Kalina
True that— November 20, 2019 12:35 p.m.
The home style Ukrainian of Village House Kalina
Ok— November 20, 2019 12:32 p.m.
The home style Ukrainian of Village House Kalina
I debated whether to comment under this article but in the end decided that as a person of Ukrainian descent I had to in order to correct all the misconceptions and misinformation that Mr. Ian Anderson decided to (or didn't care enough not to) spread via this restaurant review. Food is an integral part of any culture and any food critic worth his salt would not let himself make the types of conjectures that are made in this article without doing proper research. Let me list some of things that I've noticed in this article that are either incorrect or simply tone-deaf in the difficult context of Eastern European politics/culture: * The transliteration of the word "бабушка" is not "babyshka" but "babushka". * The author seems to adopt a stance where he uses the terms Eastern European, Russian, and Ukrainian interchangeably. There IS a shared history and similarities among all Eastern European cultures, but they are not the same and considering the current political climate I would expect for the author to make the distinction and treat the subject with some respect. Does the author go to a Guatemalan restaurant and call the food Mexican? * The author mentions his "impression of Soviet-era borscht", which doesn't make sense. What is a Soviet-era borscht? Borscht was there before the Soviet Union and Soviet Union as a political formation does not get to take credit for the existing aspects of the countries that were forced into it. This makes as little sense as saying things like "Nazi Germany-style bratwurst" or "paella of the Francoist Spain". * The author mentions shashlik and discusses it as a "Russian take on shish kabob". A quick Google search will reveal that shashlik is a dish originating in the Caucasian as well as Central Asian countries. It was made popular in the Russian Empire in the 19th century, but it's not originally Russian and it's not a Russian version of anything. This is especially insulting considering how the Russian Empire imposed themselves on these countries, adopted the best aspects of their cultures, and then took credit for them. * Armenian water is mentioned in the last paragraphs as being salty and inferior to all the Italian, French, German, and Mexican mineral waters. It seems that the author has not acquainted himself with the concept of "salty mineral waters", which are a completely different type of drink. Salty mineral waters have a different mineral composition and are often had on their own(and not with food) as a "health drink". They are not supposed to be consumed the way sparkling water or light tasting mineral waters like "Perrier" are. The author failed to do his research basically concluding that Armenians just don't know how to make a proper mineral water. In addition to this, Armenia is mentioned in the "Eastern European" context. Armenia is not part of Eastern Europe as it's entirely within Asia and has its own unique culture and history. Please do your research!— November 19, 2019 1:39 p.m.