A Change in Scenery

By Walter Kish

It has been a week since I returned from Ukraine to Canada. After spending more than two years in the land of my ancestors, returning to a Canadian lifestyle, habits and perspectives will take some time.

The dissimilarities between the two countries are significant; some are glaringly obvious, others quite subtle. Driving home from the airport brought to light one of the more obvious ones: most Canadian roads are in a good state of repair. Also, most drivers stop at red lights and drive within the lane markings. Ukraine by contrast, is cursed with both some of the worst roads and drivers in Europe. As a result, the country has the highest automobile accident rate and traffic fatalities per capita on the continent. For this reason, I avoided driving a car in Ukraine. Now that I have returned to Canada, I will have to get used to driving again.

Aside from the perils pedestrians in Ukraine have to face from dangerous drivers, they also have an additional cause for worry from problems related to parking. Most Ukrainian cities were built before there were many private cars so urban planning did not provide for parking facilities. With the explosion of car ownership in the past decade, it has become a common practice to park on the sidewalks. In the Kyiv’s downtown core, most sidewalks are virtually impassable for those on foot and inattentive pedestrians are at risk of being run over by impatient drivers looking for parking spots on sidewalks. Most of the municipal politicians responsible for this scandalous state of affairs are proud owners of the Mercedes and BMWs that have colonized the sidewalks, so their responses have been muted. Now, that I am back in Canada and don’t fear being run over at every step, I look forward to once again walking on sidewalks.

The differences between the two countries that are not as readily obvious will, nonetheless, take some getting used to. Diet falls into this category.  In Ukraine, I ate and drank well, but in a significantly different fashion than my custom in Canada. The Ukrainian diet is rich in fat and cholesterol, in keeping with the Ukrainian belief that fat is healthy and good for you. It seems to matter little to most Ukrainians that heart disease is rampant among the older and even not so old. Even though strokes and heart attacks kill Ukrainians on average 10 years younger than Canadians, most still swear by the health benefits of regular consumption of “salo” and other fatty foods. Ukrainians also seem to be addicted to mayonnaise, using it in almost every dish. In addition, kobassa is not considered to be of good quality unless it contains a significant amount of visible white lard. It was a constant challenge while living in Ukraine to keep the ratio of fats in my diet down to reasonable levels. With low fat or “lite” foods as rare in Ukraine as honest politicians, I am excited to re-introduce them into my culinary vocabulary.

Tastes in coffee are also different. Ukrainian coffee, unlike a standard Tim Horton’s cup of java with cream and sugar, resembles the Turkish variety. It is a black, very strong espresso-type beverage served in a small cup and drunk either straight or with three or four teaspoons of sugar. I learned, after picking pungent black grit from my teeth, that one does not drink it down to the bottom of the cup out of respect for the thick sludge of coffee grounds filling the bottom quarter. My Ukrainian relatives were much amused with my habit of adding milk to my coffee –that is the way they serve coffee to their kids.

In general, Ukrainian taste buds also seem to have a much higher threshold for sugar than Canadian ones do, and I found most cakes, pastries and tortes in Ukraine far too sweet.  Alcohol consumption in Ukraine is also much higher–Ukrainian vodka and beer and Crimean champagne are good and incredibly cheap­. With the quality of drinking water in most of Ukraine being suspect, my balance of liquid consumption shifted in favour of the former, and I will have to make a notable reduction.

My body will now have to adjust to more temperate habits, and I am sure that it will be most thankful (as will undoubtedly both my wife and doctor as well!). So raise your milky coffee cups with me in praise of the Canadian