What, perhaps, some people didn’t, or still don’t, recognise is quite how big Ukraine is. The largest European country, with a huge landmass, and many diversities within itself. I have described the diversity a bit before, but let’s talk about regional differences I have myself experienced and observed from others.
I have got several ways you can see some differences between regions. Bear in mind, I am combining mostly some information you can find online and my own experiences and insight from different people. This isn’t comprehensive and there are many unique aspects I will absolutely miss. Anyway, let’s start…
Vyshyvanka
I chose this one as someone actually said to me online that they’d like to learn a bit more. The traditional embroidered clothing of Ukraine is, of course, iconic. Each region, and often each family in the past, would have their own stylistic norms and patterns. Over time, we see more blending, modern adaptations, and more of an approach which is aesthetic more than symbolic. There are several articles here and here, for example, about the regional differences, and here, about the symbolism of the specific motifs, which I would merely be repeating. While regions have trends, it really was as much about individuals, families, towns, etc. more than entire oblasts. Considering the oblasts as political bodies didn’t exist for all of the vyshyvanka’s history, it makes sense.
You also have Vyshyvanka day, a day to celebrate the traditional dress. Vyshyvankas has also been worn by numerous celebrities and impacted bohemian culture to an extent in the USA. When you go around any city on this day, you can find people wearing their vyshyvanka.
I personally have one which was a gift on my wedding day, from my Ukrainian in-laws. My wife and I used to have a tradition to go to Kontraktova Square on this day for a photo by the Bohdana Khelmytski statue. This year, we didn’t manage to get to Kyiv, but took some photos in Uzhhorod instead.
What is fascinating is that we see more modern updates, playful twists to the outfits such as t-shirts with the patterns, those incorporating aspects of the war, and new and exciting colour combinations beyond the traditional ones.
On the topic of clothing, in the Carpathians, you can find different traditional dresses related to the different groups such as Hutsuls, Lemkos,and Boykos. If you go to the villages deeper in the mountains, you can see these very colourful outfits, and you can visit the town/village museums to learn more (though most of the time it is exclusively in Ukrainian, so take a Ukrainian friend if you’re not strong in that area).
Food Differences in Ukraine
Now this is one I am a bit more experienced in. The amazing thing I have learned is that many Ukrainians don’t even realise the diversity of food. I don’t know why this is the case, if it is from the USSR’s standardisation of cuisine and the fact so many people’s families were from all over Ukraine (And often beyond) so the food cultures blurred, but you can dig a bit and find some distinctions in food in different regions. Some are obvious, but others less so.
Let’s start with Borsch. The iconic Ukrainian soup. Similar to the vyshyvanka,every family had, and usually still has, their own approach. It can be even on an individual level. My wife, and her mum, have wildly different preferences (and my wife’s is genuinely the best borsch I have had). Her mum puts the cabbage in last so it is hard, and a lot of it, but my wife puts less and really softens it before even adding the water. A friend of mine, who is passionate about cooking, made a video about his own recipe.
Borsch can be vegetarian, meaty, with fish, feature beans, can be sweeter, richer, lighter, etc. There are all sorts of individual variations. But what about regionally? One trend is that in the east, Borsch can be more tomato based than beetroot based. We may see more fish based recipes nearer the coast, which I think is quite self explanatory. In in this article, we see a mushroom based borsch from Lviv, fish based from Mykolaiv, and quince meat from Crimea. Coming back to my earlier point, when I told my wife this, she didn’t even know! In the UK, we all know breakfast differences between England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, about the Devon vs Cornwall divide on cream and jam order etc.
Going to food overall, obviously, in the South we generally see more fish based dishes, and you can find more Turkish, Crimean, Jewish and other cuisines in towns and cities more than other places, although Lviv itself boasts some great Jewish restaurants, due to its history. The Carpathian and western regions have some unique dishes. For example, Banosh, a creamy, buttery corn porridge is front he carpathian regions. You can also find Bograch stew in Zakarpattia, which is more of a Hungarian dish, which, again, no two people cook the same. A meaty, hearty soup that can be quite spicy, with different meats, potatoes, onions, and lots of paprika. Additionally, Paprikash, which can be sour cream based or less, either with chicken, pork, or mushroom, is far more popular in this region.
Generally, Zakarpattia, due to its geographical location has lots of external influences and a few other dishes you don’t see as often. Meat baked in deruny batter (potato pancakes), giant derun which are folded over, lotsi-pechenya (effectively baked meat and onions), and more.
I recently learned about Miners Cake, a cake from the Donbas region, which I found little about online in English. I found it mentioned in this post about Luhansk and a few youtube videos. This, again, returns to my point about lack of knowledge. I think, as the Carpathians and the coasts are more visited internally, people are more aware of these differences than others and generally, the cuisine was quite stnadardised.
Languages and Accents of Ukraine
So, I have talked many times about the myth of the “Ukrainian speaking west and Russian speaking east”, and how fluid, and complex the language situation is. Many people speak both, and interchange into forms of Surzhyk. In the Zakarpattia region you can find Hungarian speakers, Slovak speakers, and Romanian speakers, and the latter also in Chernivtsi. There is also a diverse linguistic situation in Bessarabia too (the region bordering Moldova and Romania along the Black Sea coast, within Odessa oblast).
That being said, there are distinctive differences beyond language. For example, Ukrainian in Lviv (and Galicia) uses some terms and pronunciation similar to Polish, whereas in say Poltava, you may find a more distinctive form of Ukrainian (i once heard its closer to the traditional Ukrainian, but most people i meet from there speak surzhyk), In Rivne and Khelmytsky, you can find a surzhy which incorproates word endings similar to Russian and Belaurisan, distinct from Galicians and those to the east. Interestingly, even if people are speaking Russian, for those from the eastern and southern parts, they can distinguish Russians thmeslves from Russian speaking Ukrainains, which is harder for those from the western regions. Zakarpattians, of course, have all sorts of words, even when they speak Ukrainian, you may find Roma, Hungarian, and Slovak words. ANd village to village, it wildly differs. You can listen to this episode of The Think Tank with Olga of Uzhhorod about this and read my blog post about travelling the Carpathians to explore this more.
Attitudes & Stereotypes Within Ukraine
In the UK, we all know that people from London are either pioneers of culture and enlightened citizens (if you’re from London) and if you’re not,they’re snobs and arrogant, and we’re all better than them. But does this happen in Ukraine? Are there broad differences between people from different regions?
It is difficult to discuss without getting bogged into stereotypes. I will spell these out first, the ones I am aware of, before getting into my own experiences.
People from Kyiv are, unsurprisingly, perceived as picky, entitled, in a rush, and maybe rich. Basically, like almost any capital city on earth. People from the east may be seen as either dumb and rough miners, or worse, stupid pro russians. Odessa are all stubborn and independent. Zakarpattians and mountain people are weird village people. Galicians are arrogant, think they’re the best and all go abroad anyway. Eastern Ukrainians often think that western Ukrainians don’t know how to work hard and just go pick fruit in Europe and come back with their money. It’s a weird stereotype to me, when they could also leave Ukraine (pre-war) easily and do the same, and there’s plenty of jobs and businesses in western Ukraine.
Anyway, in my experience there are of course some regional differences regarding temperament. I found that Uzhhorod people are especially slower, take life easier, they don’t really seem to work, they’re a bit unreliable when you need to get something done. This is in part because we aren’t in an industrial area, many people make work from their own activities, there’s a sense of a village even in Uzhhorod, and there isn’t the competition. In Kyiv, service for anything is really good, and people are nice. Zakarpattian service in general sucks, I will be honest. Odessans, yeah, they are a bit stubborn, it’s part of the being a port city and having a unique identity i would say, and arguably the Jewish influence. I have met some eastern Ukrainians with chips on their shoulders, but in my experience, i couldn’t say massively distinctive from other ukrainians, perhaps apart from speaking more Russian (though these days many have switched).
I will say that i found tolerance of Russians more from these regions, but not in a pro russian way, more in a “i don’t hate all russians” sort of way, which makes sense when you live next door, and probably have relations over the border, this includes people who lost their homes. The Galician arrogance is definitely a thing, but not as bad as people think, in that some people think Saint Galicia is the best region and truest Ukrainain region. This can relate to some of the more overt hatred of russians in this region before the 2014 war. It makes sense as this region has less ties to russia, was not occupied by Russia until the USSR, allowing for a distinctive, Galician, Ukrainian speaking identity to flourish. Kyiv people definitely stress more and can get quite arrogant. You can see extravagant displays of wealth and entitled people who come to places like Uzhhorod and expect Kyiv levels in everything. To be honest, I was a bit like that. I learned to slow down and stop worrying about the plans for the day. Because here in Uzhhorod, its slow, it is small. In Kyiv, you need to plan your evening, reserve tables, book taxis, plan metro routes etc and you have to work to live. It is just the difference between small and big cities really.
Anyway, what is ultimately most important i would say is the rural vs urban divide more than regional. The quality of life is sharply difference, the exposure to the world is less, the opportunities in the country are very few, the role of religion is way more pronounced, and pagan (but they don’t call them pagan but they definitely are) cultural aspects and superstitions. While religion is more strong in Uzhhorod, it is a big village i would say (i never in my life met Christians who don’t do laundry on Sunday before and they take it seriously until I came here). Also catholicism is stronger in western ukraine in general, as a side note. But life in the villages is not the idyllic village life we think of in the UK (though, that i would argue is more for retired baby boomers than anyone else) it is generally harder. Villages in the UK are typically very pretty, historical, and wealthy. Here, they are rarely that. It indicates the rural and urban divide which I think is something Ukrainian politicians need to take more seriously in the future.
To Finish This Ramble…
To summarise, yes, there are many regional divides, but some are not as big as you would think due to the Soviet standardisation and deportations, relocations etc. Nonetheless, regional identities, dishes, and other distinctions remain and it shows how amazingly diverse Ukraine is. Ultimately, stereotypes serve little purpose beyond jokes, and those who take them seriously are not good people. Ukrainians are united by more than they are divided by, and every individual has their differences, to cast these broad strokes is not helping anyone. This unity is stronger now, and the identities are changing, and it will be fascinating to see how things change in the future.
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