“They change their sky, not their soul, who rush across the sea”

Horacy

You may go around the world, change kaleidoscopes of different countries and cities, but it is important to go there, where you will be able to remember the things that you saw. Terry Pratchett wrote in his novel “The Light Fantastic” that “you haven’t really been anywhere until you’ve got back home.”  When pictures from my childhood arise in my memory, strange feelings arise in my soul. I always have not enough words to describe those emotions. Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko said that “as a child, you open the mainland, which shall be called your homeland in the future.” Person makes his first steps into the wide world from his home. Wherever you are in the world, you always return home in your thoughts. You always come back to the places of carefree childhood and youth.

Not too far from the noise of the city and bustle of noisy cars that are racing on highways, and leaving a thick curtain of smoke behind them, lies a peaceful town Podvolochisk. It is a cozy corner of my inspiration. It is my native town, my sweet home.

Podvolochisk lies on the territory of Ternopil region, an interesting and unique place. This region has incredibly rich nature and land resource. It is the territory of real underground kingdom that has more than a hundred caves, including some of the largest caves in the world. Ternopil region is also called “the country of castles”. It is not surprising, because there are more than 30 castles or their ruins on the territory. This is the highest number of them among all regions of Ukraine.

And here are some interesting historical facts. The first mention of the settlement, which was located on the right bank of River Zbruch, was written in the act from 9 July 1463 when Prince Vladimir Zbarazhskiy became the owner of the territory. As a result of the first division of Poland, in 1772 Podvolochisk became the part of the Habsburg monarchy. But in 1920-39 years of the twentieth century, after struggling with various invaders, the town belonged to the territory of Poland again.

I wrote some historical facts to show the particularity of the region. Ternopil region belonged to Polish territories and that played a role in creating local language and even culture. While talking with friends from different parts of Ukraine, I had to explain the meaning of the words of the dialect of my region. Talking with them, and using a dialect of the region I used to see a confused look, which said “What are you talking about?”. There are a lot of Polish words that you may here everywhere in Ternopil region. So they make the language of the territory richer and unique.

Ternopil region is mostly agricultural, so cuisine is very diverse in my area. A special place belongs to borsch! Every year there is a festival of borsch. Housewives prepare more than 700 liters of soup of different recipes. There is an interesting legend about borsch in Ternopil. There isn’t any reliable information about borsch origin, but the mention of it dates back to Cossack times (XV-XVI centuries). The legend says that the first-ever borscht was cooked during the two-month siege of Cossacks fortress, occupied by Turkish army. In order to feed four hundred people Cossacks collected everything edible around and added it to meat broth. The course was nourishing and tasty enough to become popular and permanent in Cossacks and then Ukrainian and European ration. Since then it  has become a traditional and national dish  in Ukraine.

You can also taste a large number of fish dishes in my region. Fish julienne and dumplings stuffed with fish fillings, fish jelly and fish puddings are among them. There are also a lot of dishes from fried, stewed and roasted carp. We also cook delicious dumplings very diverse fillings. Dishes with mushrooms are also very popular here too. And of course, there are many dishes with meat. Here you can taste different meat rolls, chickens and ducks stuffed with meat fillings and many other delicious dishes.

Welcome to our unique corner of Ukraine!

Iryna Ilyashevych