Baba's Kitchen: Ukrainian Soul Food

A Ukrainian friend recommended this as a place to get some good Ukrainian recipes. That may be so, but to get to a recipe and use it effectively, you have to wade through a lot of written dialect that borders the ridicule of people with an accent. The recipes are difficult to follow because there is so much language clutter, and things don't seem to be in any logical order. After trying a couple of recipes that really weren't that good, I've decided it's not worth the effort. And I don't find the ersatz Ukrainian accent helpful.

When I ordered this book, I was honestly looking for a cookbook. We recently spent over two months in Ukraine adopting two children. Now that we are home, my 14 year old daughter and I like to cook together.I had no idea how incredibly funny this book would be. After reading the first chapter on how to make borsch, I could not put the book down! I was crying, I was laughing so hard during some of her cooking advice, and I am pretty sure I snorted a few times too. Baba's voice is so true to life. It sounds very similar to how my children speak while they are learning English. In the midst of giving cooking advice in a hilarious and sometimes irreverent manner, the author also gives history lessons about the country that won over my heart recently and gave me two beautiful additions to my family. It's a country that takes great pride in their natural, flavorful food. If you can't get to Ukraine to try the cuisine for yourself, this is the next best thing!Last Saturday I stained my new copy of this book with beet juice making Baba's recipe for Borscht. The soup took all day to make, and while it was cooking to perfection, I had time to read the story of a woman who murdered her no-good husband with sugar and Baba's opinion of women who wear thongs. Priceless! When the Borscht was finally ready to eat, my Ukrainian children claim it was the best they had ever eaten. Thanks, Baba! I couldn't have pulled that off without you!

This book is a hidden gem! I am of Ukrainian descent and have always wanted something to hand down to future generations so they know their history. This wonderful collection of traditional recipes with added stories and historical notes is exactly what I needed. From a proud Ukrainian woman, I strongly recommend this book! Thank you Raisa🙏🏻 SLAVA UKRAINA!

I bought this book after randomly discovering Baba's YouTube video about the Ukrainian curse, which made me laugh so hard I nearly wet myself. What a delight to discover the entire book is written in the same voice! I can't vouch for a single recipe, because since I've received the cookbook, I've done nothing but read all the stories aloud to my family and we've all been laughing until our sides hurt and we can't breathe. Raisa Stone is a genius. I pity those poor reviewers whose boring babas would never tell outrageous or insulting stories - because Raisa has perfectly captured the spirit of my own wonderful baba, who I miss every single day precisely because she was never afraid to speak her mind. I cannot thank the author enough for allowing me to bring my baba to life for my children, even if only briefly and just a bit in caricature. They never knew her, and to be able to share her with them in this way is an amazing gift. When I can get my eyes to dry out enough from the tears of laughter so that I can read again, I promise I will get around to cooking some of the recipes, too.

I am having such a ball reading this book. It’s not a cookbook that you jump around - it’s a book you read from cover to cover! The folklore, legends and of course, baba’s opinion about everything, are totally entertaining! I need more Baba in my life!!! 💜 I am half Ukrainian and rediscovering my roots - my own baba died before I was born 😢 but I feel all the love of my ukrainian mama (who has also passed on 💔) coming through in Raisa’s words. Thank you so much for making this book, Raisa. Please make more! I also get a kick out of your videos too!

Love the story and recipes. Ukraine loves family and it shows in this book 🇺🇦

I picked up Baba's Kitchen: Ukrainian Soul Food With Stories From the Village free during an Amazon giveaway. Collection of Ukrainian recipes, supposedly shared by a grandmother and containing lots of grandmotherly advice.While I found many of the comments patronizing rather than amusing, and the broken-English got old quickly, I would have put up with them as an honorable paean to the author's grandmother except for one thing: there is no Baba. Stohyn admits that she created "Baba" as a composite character, so there is no justification for the poor English-isn't-my-first-language grammar. The recipes themselves look very usable and, in some cases, even tasty. If you want to try Ukrainian cooking enough to put up with being told, "Baba catch you put [sour cream] on her good borshch, she send giant spider to bite you on head," this is the book for you.

Touches of hilarious humour and Ukrainian history enrich traditional recipes from Ukraine narrated from the perspective of a 'seen it all' Ukrainian 'Baba' !The author , Raisa Stone, from Winnipeg, Manitoba is a poet and Ukrainian culture enthusiast and she has done a remarkable job of combiningmany things beyond food in this charming 'cook book'.The recipe for Cabbage Rolls (holubtsi) begins " Clean out your freezer so have room for head cabbage...... Put whole head cabbage in plastic bag. ...leave for 48 hours. OR, if is middle of winter, lock in trunk of that junky car in front you trailer. Don't forget where you leave it, or in spring your relatives will have to move out of car because of smell. "

I am giving one star because yes, there are recipes in this book and they are good. I am a Ukrainian, grew up in north-central-south Ukraine and our recipes do differ from west ukrainian cuisine. For example, there isn't one "real" or "classic" recipe of borshch or vareniki because it is different for every part of the country. Any country. As some other reviews stated the recipes are very hard to follow (even for me Ukrainian) , very hard to actually spot them sometimes in all that gibberish the author thinks is appropriate to write about. Although, there are ingredients given. The book is written in very rude and arrogant style and the author seems to even brag about it. She is calling American people pigs, her stories are not just very much not funny but also something that if one actually did something like that one should keep quiet about it and hope nobody will find out. Instead, the author is bragging about those things like it is something to be proud of. So far I got to page 50 and it is already a repelling reading. I am Ukrainian, I am all for "to be proud of our country" and "we are the best" but she goes way over the line sometimes. She tells a story about her friend whose abusive husband had diabetes so she kept adding sugar into his food until he got into coma and she did not even call the ambulance but instead went to carry on cooking (the recipe followed). Or a story when a man came into the author's house to read the water meter and she had a german shepherd dog which bites and she did not keep the dog away. She just warned the man the dog bites and when the dog did bite the guy she was so happy that she knew and warned it will happen. Then apparently the man dropped the charges and instead he adjusted the meter readings so the water supply company kept sending her checks because they owed her money now. What kind of story is that? Funny?The recipes I went through are good, some look not ukrainian at all but again, maybe they are traditional in the west parts of Ukraine, I wouldn't know about that. I went through a small part of the book and while the recipes are there the whole reading is repelling and the author feels like not a nice person. At least to me. I want other readers to know that not all Ukrainians are like that, we are sympathetic and kind and generous people. And no, ukrainians did not invent the clay oven, the ancient egyptians were using it long before us.I might update my review when/if finish the reading.

Have just taken delivery of this book, glanced at one page and I know I'm hooked. Haven't laughed at a book so much in ages and can't wait to read the whole thing. Being of Ukrainian descent I can really relate to Baba and like to think that my Babas would've been the same if I'd ever known them. I can't wait to try the recipes as most of them use real food, god forbid anything tinned!! But this book is also food for the soul too....I like it so much (seriously after only reading one page!!) that I'm ordering extra copies as presents for my sisters and girlfriends....genius!

I bought this for my kindle, when it first came out.......hilarious!!!!!! Laughed out loud at some of the stories!!!! The recipes are excellent, have ordered the paperback now, so will enjoy reading it again!

I bought this as I am of Ukrainian heritage. The recipes are great , but the humour is definitely exceptional!!!.

I adored everything about this book. I recommend reading it like a novel, it is so beautifully amusing. Truly one of my favourite books of all time. Now all I need is a paper copy...