Ukrainians are urged to make a festive cake for Independence Day
16 August 2024 14:26
Civil society activists are calling on Ukrainians to start a tradition and bake a festive cake in honour of Independence Day. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre (UCMC).
The initiators of the campaign emphasise that one of the most important holidays of our country – Independence Day – still does not have a clearly defined gastronomic symbol.
“Have you ever wondered why we have not yet developed a recognisable set of Ukrainian dishes for Independence Day? Why is it easy to find boxes with dishes that have symbolic meaning for Easter, New Year or Christmas, but not for Independence Day? Food, as an integral part of culture, has a significant impact on the celebration of any holiday, adding expressiveness and emotionality to it at all levels. After all, a holiday always starts with a family table,” the initiators say.
They emphasise that due to the lack of a gastronomic symbol of Independence Day, this initiative was born, which needs the support of all active and caring citizens.
The author of the idea, gastronomic culture researcher and founder of ezhakultura, Olena Braichenko, noted that it is important to cultivate new traditions that can strengthen national unity and become part of the collective memory of Ukrainians.
“I dream that in a few years you will see a picture of a festive table somewhere and you will immediately tell by the dishes on the table that if there is a pie on the table, it is definitely the Ukrainians celebrating Independence Day,” she said.
The panelists offered several recipes that could be adopted for their own Independence Day traditions. For example, poppy seed pie, which traditionally began to be prepared in August, Yavoriv pie, which was included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, plum pie from Olga Kobylyanska, and the traditional Crimean Tatar pie Kobete with meat filling.
The authors of the project want the idea to become a long-lasting tradition. They have created pages on social media about the initiative and are also calling for submissions of their pie recipes, which will also be published and possibly collected in a separate collection.
“We invite all Ukrainian communities and Ukrainian diplomatic missions around the world to join this initiative and publish photos and recipes for a festive Independence Day pie on their pages. These can be either pies made according to the recipes of the families of diplomatic staff or recipes/photos proposed by the initiative group,” the authors of the initiative said.
The following hashtags are suggested for such posts: #pyrihIndependence #pyrihUA #pyrihIndependence #pyrihUA #independenceday.
