Bustiers and Brides in Odessa

It's been a surreal day in Odessa. We arrived at 6am on our overnight express train. This was my first time traveling in a sleeping car and although I managed to sleep through most of the night, trying to roll over on a bed that's narrower than me without falling off and banging my head on the little table was a gymnastic feat worthy of a gold medal.

After a brief nap, we headed out to explore the city. It's a complete 180 from Kyiv. Here there are very few majestic churches, much more decay evident in the ancient buildings, and the energy is more raw. I likened it to the Corleone of the Ukrainian cities - you can see it's beauty and softness but are always on alert for the wild animal simmering below the surface, ready to pounce at any minute. You're never quite sure of the intentions of those around you and it keeps you on your toes.

Wandering around the main streets and side streets is always a great way to really get a sense of how the city works. You get off the main track where the tourists go and can really see the dark underbelly where the working class lives. We wandered into two such areas today - once when we landed in the docks and once when we stumbled into the back lot of the local market.

We thought the docks would be interesting to explore - as they are in most cities. They looked great from above in the park walkway so we made our way down. Like in Toronto, this part of the city is a maze of tracks, highways, streets, overpasses, and industrial buildings. Quickly upon entering the dock area we realized that it is a government controlled zone (and they have dogs), so we made our way out of there. Luckily for me, the streets around there had many industrial buildings full of rusty crusty photographic goodies that I could capture.

The market zone was another strange anomaly. The market itself was just massive - rambling on and on and on - with stall after stall just full of junk from jeans to cell phones. We really thought we were never going to get out of the maze of garbage when we finally found a way through. We ended up in this strange and glorious back section that was part underground market, part slum. Ramshackle stalls lined one side and contained everything from pipes to housewares while the other side of the street was lined with derelict homes. Dividing the two were several tracks for the electric trams to run on, which competed with trucks and cars for the road. And all around were people - so many people walking back and forth in front of trams, through the market, and along the street. It was surreal. I felt like I was no longer in the world class city that I had arrived in just hours before.

To juxtapose the morning, we then ran into the weirdest sight I will ever see. As we left the market area we made our way to the Opera House were there were at least 40 brides, grooms, bridesmaids and best men, all with mothers and photographers in tow all throughout the garden and around the fountain. At one point, there were 4 different brides having their photos taken around the fountain with their husbands (to be?) - each in a different pose - competing for that perfect spot. You couldn't swing a cat without hitting a bride in that space. We just couldn't figure it out: Was it a special day for weddings in the city that happened every year? Did a cruise ship come in full of men wanting a Ukrainian bride and they were all lined up, dressed in gowns, waiting at the bottom of the gangplank and ready for the picking? Is it a mass wedding and should I be worried about them all drinking the cool-aid at the end of the day? It was surreal. I'm not even getting into some of those dresses - let's just say that Odessa is the land of plenty, and they're not afraid to show it.

We never did make it to the beach no matter how hard we tried to get there - always seemed to be some sort of obstacle in the way. Instead, we're going to go and try the Black Sea sushi tonight.

Wheat Free in the Bread Basket

One of my biggest challenges during the trip will have nothing to do with transportation, language, local customs, or photography. For two weeks, I will be traveling through the bread basket of Europe and I am what intolerant. Luckily it's different from celiac disease or I would be really in trouble - I can't have wheat, but with celiac you have to avoid all gluten which can even be found in vitamins.

Growing up in a Ukrainian family I'm already familiar with some local foods - although the dishes we eat in Canada are just the tip of the iceberg of traditional cuisine. Having been diagnosed with a food allergy later in life, I've learned to adapt and modify the recipes so that I don't have to give up my favourites, but I doubt that they have pyrohy made of rice flour in Kyiv.

One amazing resource that I have found to help me eat at the local establishments is an iTunes App for my iTouch called the Gluten Free Restaurant Card. Although aimed more towards those that have Celiac Disease, this app created by www.celiactravel.com contains 43 language translations of text that basically says "I am allergic to foods containing flour or grains of wheat, rye, barley and oats. Does this food contain these ingredients?" You choose the language you need and then you can show the translated card to your waiter to read. They don't have Ukrainian, but they have Russian which is close enough since many people speak it in the cities. I can see myself using this app on many trips to countries where I am not fluent in the local language.

There are a lot of great foods that I can look forward to while I'm in Ukraine, and some that I love that I'm going to have to avoid:

FOODS I'M GOING TO MISS OUT ON

• vushka - little mushroom-filled dumplings you get in borscht.
• pyrohy - the fried version of "pierogies" and often filled with fruit or poppy seed filling for dessert.
• varenyky - the boiled version of "pierogies" normally filled with potatoes, cabbage, cheese and topped with butter, sour cream, bacon, and onions
• nalisnyky - crepes that you can fill with cottage cheese, meat, caviar or fruit
• kotlety - minced meat or fish fritters rolled in breadcrumbs
• kanapky - black or white bread-based canapes topped with mayo or butter, caviar, smoked herring, cucumber/tomato slices and dill
• pampushky - fried sweet dough similar to doughnut hole, filled with sweet fillings.
• pyvo - beer
• kasha hrechana zi shkvarkamy - buckwheat cereal with chopped, fried bacon and onion
  

FOODS I CAN INDULGE IN

• ohirky - sour pickles
• kapusta - sauerkraut
• borscht - beet soup (with a dollop of sour cream)
• hrybivka - mushroom soup
• kapusniak - sauerkraut soup
• yushka - fish soup, usually carp
• holubtsi - cabbage rolls with rice and meat (avoiding the ones with buckwheat)
• syrnyky - cottage cheese fritters (sometimes with raisins - blech!)
• pechenya - roast meat
• kartoplia - potato with sour cream, butter and dill
• huliash - stew
• kovbasa - various smoked or bolied pork, beef or chicken sausage
• shashlyk - shish kebab of lamb and vegetables marinated in vinegar and grilled on skewers with white wine
• pliatsky - potato pancakes with sour cream
• sichenyky - minced beef with omelette and fried onions
• torte - cakes, frequently made without flour using instead ground walnuts or almonds

YOU CAN'T PAY ME TO EAT THESE

• salo - salted (or occasionally raw) unrendered pork lard similar to bacon but with a higher ration of fat to meat. Eaten as a snack. Also available as "chocolate covered".
• studynets - jellied fish or meat
• kvas - a sweet and sour sparkling beverage made from yeast, sugar and dried rye bread

It's going to be challenging navigating my way through what I can and cannot eat. But I figure that if I made it through 2 weeks in Italy, with their love of breads and wheat, then I will have no problem with the Ukrainian diet. I'm always up for an adventure.

Some food name and descriptions from Wikipedia - Ukrainian Food. Images from Wikimedia Commons.