Eating your way through Ukraine and its lard(er)
I met Russian foodblogger Katrina from Gastronomicalme a couple of years ago through a food and drink journalism course, and since then I have come to know her as both a passionate foodie and a very good cook. Katrina started organising Russian brunches at her North London home this year and her last event had an added twist to it. The theme was Ukrainian, and she named the event “Eating your way through Ukraine and its lard(er)”. I’ve never eaten Ukrainian food before and so was very excited to explore the tastes of Ukraine.
If you know anything about Ukrainian or Eastern European food, you’ll probably have guessed that the reference to ‘lard’ pays homage to salo, cured slabs of fat popular on Ukrainian and Russian tables, etc. Katrina had exclusively hand selected a number of different types of salo from various Ukrainian regions during a recent visit there. Eating pieces of fat isn’t really my thing, but I can appreciate how on those blistery winter nights salo can be filling and necessary to help keep the cold at bay.
Salo