Cookbook Preview: Ukraïne – Recipes and Stories from Kyiv to the Black Sea by Anna Voloshyna

Just in time for fall, a new Ukrainian cookbook arrives on store shelves: “Ukraïne: Recipes and Stories from Kyiv to the Black Sea,” by Anna Voloshyna with photographs by Jason Perry (Chronicle Books, October 13, 2026).

The publisher gifted me an advance copy of this Ukrainian cookbook to preview, via NetGalley.

Voloshyna begins the cookbook by explaining the special letter I in the spelling of the title, a symbol of Ukrainian defiance and hope. I was almost in tears as I read the introduction about her difficult journey to wartime Ukraine to go home, visit family, and collect culinary inspiration for this cookbook. She educates us on why we shouldn’t refer to the country as “THE Ukraine” and teaches us about Ukraine’s history, climate, seasons and of course food traditions. It’s a fascinating read and worth slowing down and ingesting thoughtfully.

The author traveled around her country asking restaurant chefs, home cooks, soldiers, bakers, and grandmothers “What is Ukrainian cuisine?” in a quest to understand the modern Ukrainian kitchen.

Chapters include:

• Mountains (smoked honey, cabbage rolls, braided bread, mushrooms, dumplings, Carpathian cheesecake with dried cherries)
• Kyiv (rhubarb preserves, rye bread, Chicken Kyiv, oxtail borshch, cheese fritters, semolina carrot bread)
• Steppe (summer tomato salad, fish baked in tomato sauce, cold beet and cherry soup, chicken and potato roast)
• Black Sea (marinated anchovies, grilled sardines with dilly potatoes, roasted eggplants with tomatoes and chickpeas, minced meat turnovers)
• Salt of the Earth (mushroom salt, confit garlic, beet and plum lemonade, white bean and confit garlic hummus, brown butter salted caramel)
• Root Cellar (fermented tomatoes, sour cucumbers, brown butter, baked milk, sour cream, deep vegetable broth, potato and butternut squash fritters)

There are so many things I want to immediately try making from this cookbook! I am vegetarian, but can find so many options here! I might start with the brown butter from the root cellar chapter for a foundation, then try fritters and dumplings, and several of the mushroom dishes. We’re using up the last of the fresh tomatoes from our garden, so I’ll turn to the Steppe chapter, then as the rains return to Seattle in October I can transition to the heartier recipes here. I’m sad that my dill has already finished for the season, since the author writes that dill truly defines Ukrainian cooking.

I’m so grateful to have been able to explore this cookbook so much in advance of its publication date. I throughly enjoy it and will definitely purchase my own copy to keep in my cookbook collection.

Shop for “Ukraïne” on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble or at Target (affiliate links).

-Carrie

Cookbook Divas

@cookbookdivas