Non-fictional stories about borscht and Japan

About the "rhetorical" questions to which the answers are known to everyone. "Whose Crimea?" "Whose Donbass?"

Finally, the question "whose borscht?" - are not rhetorical for a long time. After all, the adequate people of the world know this: it is about Ukraine. And Japan has already sorted out this question. As well as with the geography and history of the origin of borscht.

Ukrainian Natalia Kovaleva, who has been living in Japan for 30 years and created a non-profit organisation of Ukrainians in Japan "Krajany" and Japanese Mae Yedo, who learned how to cook borscht, you won't believe - in "Moscow", because she studied there at the university in her younger years, tell about borscht and ways of its preparation. However, she tried borscht for the first time with a Ukrainian, her classmate, who brought borscht from her grandmother during the holidays especially for Mae to taste a real Ukrainian delicacy.

Mae Edo

The slim, polite and quiet at first glance lady (which Japanese people should be according to tradition), talks about borscht rather cheekily, a little flamboyantly. Mae adds confidence to her words, as she confesses, by her long experience of cooking a surprisingly hot dish with a difficult to pronounce Japanese name. Here "borscht" is called "borsich".

I can cook as well as your mothers and grandmothers. My borscht is thick and red-coloured, like in Ukraine," she says.

Previously, however, as Mae points out, the Japanese considered this dish to be Russian. If we look more broadly at the geography of the region and historical nuances, we should recognise the territorial proximity to Japan of the once Soviet Far East. There are many inhabitants of these regions in the Land of the Rising Sun, they are used to them here, they are friends with some of them, had business relations with them and even learnt their language. And everything that came from there was by definition as if Russian.

Mae complains that he can't find good, sweet and juicy beetroot in Tokyo.

We have recently started growing them in some prefectures like Nagano or Hokkaido. They can lie in supermarkets for a long time if they are taken occasionally, because they are expensive and few people know how to use them. So they are already old and dried up, which is not good for a tasty borscht," Edo shares her reflections.

Recently, Mae's friend from Nagano started growing beetroot in her town. She has already sent several times even to Tokyo for Edo to distribute the borscht ingredient to Ukrainians. Another friend of hers buys boiled beetroot in packets at the shop.

Here I am not cooking the typical Japanese so-called "Borscht", but making the real thing. You probably know what our dish called "borscht" is, right? It's some kind of red tomato and meat soup. This misconception about borscht has been with us for a long time. Many people think that borscht is some kind of stew that's boiled for a long time. And they cook beetroot for a long time, because of which it loses its beautiful colour. I say: "only broth should be cooked for a long time, but beetroot cannot be cooked for a long time!" - she emphasises.

She points out that prevents to prepare a good borscht and the lack of dill and expensive sour cream. She makes it with plain yoghurt

Speaking about the taste of borscht, Mae adds that she still remembers the taste of the first borscht in her life.

A guy, a Ukrainian, brought back borscht from his grandmother one day after the summer holidays. It was chicken, and it was my first chicken borscht. And when I worked for a Japanese TV crew and travelled around Ukraine, many mothers cooked with chicken and rooster. Beef was rare. And I like to use sauerkraut, which I sour myself. How is that good? Because I was told, they rarely use sauerkraut in Ukraine, don't they?", says the Japanese woman.

After chatting with a Japanese hostess, I visited the Ukrainian cafe "Krajany", which was opened by Ukrainians in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Natalia Kovaleva, Chair of the NGO organisation "Strany", told us about the peculiarities of how the Japanese perceive Ukrainian borscht. The main thing is that we heard whose borscht the Japanese consider to be. And we also found out her favourite borscht recipe and the region where it comes from.

You can always try delicious things in the Ukrainian cafe "Krajane", where both Ukrainians and Japanese happily come to have lunch. Fresh borscht, as well as deruny, varenyky and pie are always waiting for guests here. All this is about 260 UAH, which is a bit higher than ramen compared to prices in other capital's establishments, but inexpensive.

Natalia Kovaleva, the head of the NGO "Krajany", said that the organisation was created about 20 years ago. But it was registered only 4 years ago. Natalia herself has been living in Japan for 30 years. When asked how long the Japanese have been familiar with our national gastronomic pride, the lady assured me that everything happened quite a long time ago.

The Japanese knew about borscht a long time ago, simply because it was the Soviet Union, there were a lot of restaurants positioning themselves as Russian cuisine and presenting borscht there. There were a few in Tokyo and outside of Tokyo restaurants. All of that was there. Indeed, the Japanese knew it was a Russian dish. Literally about ten years ago, they started claiming it was a Ukrainian dish. At all our events, which we held, they cooked borscht. They gave it to us, explained what this dish was," she said.

"Krajane" conducts quite a few projects in Japan, among them the programme in Yokohama "International Understanding" for primary school children. As part of the activities, they celebrate, in addition to everything else, that borscht is Ukrainian.

This is important. Because even in English textbooks in Japan they write that borscht is Russian. But the situation is changing. And indeed, especially since the beginning, when Crimea has been occupied since '14, this information is intensively spread by Ukrainians. We have had a hand in this as well. After the full-scale invasion, the Japanese themselves began to see everything, and they themselves began to be interested in the real state of affairs in Ukraine, - shares Kovaleva.

Since then, at all lectures "Krajany" teach the Japanese the first words of greetings, says Natalia.

Good day, goodbye, and the question: borscht, what dish is it? Everyone repeats: Ukrainian," she says.

Regarding beetroot, Natalia confirms that the vegetable was a very exotic dish for the Japanese. You could buy it in several supermarkets, where goods and products from different countries of the world are presented.

Beetroot was there, but it was insanely expensive. This has been absolutely no problem lately. Even outside my house in the neighbourhood I live in, there is such a small shop, you can always find beetroot. I believe that there is also a lot for sale on the Internet," says Kovaleva.