Here’s how the scholars describe it: Borscht (also borsch, bortsch, borstch, borsh, barszcz, or borshch, Ukrainian: борщ) is a soup of Ukrainian origin that is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries. In most of these countries, it is made with beetroot as the main ingredient, giving it a deep reddish-purple color. In some countries tomato may occur as the main ingredient, while beetroot acts as a secondary ingredient. Other, non-beet varieties also exist, such as the tomato paste-based orange borscht and the green borscht.
Borscht variations: Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Chinese, Czech, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mennonite, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Yiddish.
Who knew? We didn’t, and we guess that’s the point. For us, borscht is more than borscht – it represents taking the blinders off and trying new things. There are all kinds of pleasant surprises out there, just waiting to be discovered.
For those of you who would like to give borscht a try, here’s a recipe we posted on Just A Pinch. If you try it, let us know what you think!
Steve and Tonya
3 comments:
You may love Borscht, but will it blend?
I remember borscht soup being popular in Aktobe, but not so much in Shymkent. Looks pretty yummy in your photos. Have you tried Shawsh-leek (not sure how to spell it but this is how you say it)? It was very popular in Shymkent and also very tasty if you're meat eaters.
Glad to see you're experiencing as much as you can of the food, people and culture while there. The people are simply fantastic, aren't they? Can't wait to hear more about the area and soon the baby!!! So exciting!
Yes, I was (and still am a very picky eater) which made eating in Kaz quite a challenge. But I must say that when we did eat out, I almost always ordered the borscht. It was so tasty, even for a picky eater like me. LOL And Ken enjoyed a bunch of different Shashleek (totally not the right spelling I know). So foodwise it sounds like you are having a great time. Here's hoping and praying you can start the bonding process very soon. In the meantime, I've been enjoying reminiscing over all your Kaz reflections, plus I've been learning a few new things along the way too. Thanks for being such great travel guides and culture ambassadors.
Take care,
Tanya
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