Ukraine, breadbasket of Europe

According to my guide book Ukraine should have a rich tradition for baking bread. That is however not my experience. Wherever we go there are always only the same two types of bread, maybe in different shapes but always extremely boring. No matter if you go to a bakery or a supermarket the bread always seems to come from the same factory. Only once did I visit a 'real' bakery with fresh bread and many different kinds. That was really good, but sadly it was in Poltava. I think the sad bread situation is somehow connected with a policy that the government enforced some time ago, but I don't know the details about that.



This is a typical 'bakery'. The architecture is unusual compared to other buildings in Kharkov, seems kind of Austrian to me. The bakeries have the kind of pastries that are completely stuffed with poppy seed, which is also something very Austrian to me. I read that the western part of Ukraine has a very different architecture because of an historical Austro-Hungarian influence and I wonder if there is some connection.




Semen helped me find a baking machine and I invited him and his girlfriend to have some fresh baked bread. Like I guessed, they had never tasted anything like it. In the pictures we are having some cakes that Semen brought. The wine is normal Ukrainian red wine and it is extremely sweet.