FINALLY, VEGETABLES!

Something to know about Ukrainian cuisine (and, from what I understand, most of Central/Eastern European cuisine): they do not eat vegetables. Unless, of course, said vegetables are cooked inside a buttery, lardy pastry, or covered with mayonnaise.

In other words, it is very hard to eat healthy here. At least by American standards.

We've realized just how spoiled we are, coming from California, the agriculture capital of the United States. We get fresh, gorgeous, juicy fruits and vegetables whenever we want. There are various fruit/vege stalls in some areas in Kharkiv (and all over the place near the apartment we stayed at in Kiev), but it's not the same. Admittedly, the produce you find in supermarkets in the States a lot of the time has been genetically enhanced in some way, or at least the best-looking fruits and veges are the ones on display. But the produce you find at the farmer's markets in California is more realistic, but no less glorious. The produce here leaves a lot to be desired, and looking at it, with flies roaming about and wilting from being in the sun all day long, I don't want to eat it.

So for the week or so we've been here, the only produce we have eaten has been a piece of lettuce on a burger, or cabbage in a meaty pastry, or cabbage and cucumber in a mayo slaw.

But we went to a little Italian place a few buildings over from our hostel for lunch, and let me just say, it revived me.

We got salad and a grilled vege platter to go with our pasta dishes, and every bite I took was delicious rejuvenation.

Also, we went to the store to stock up on water and found a beer called Schofferhoffer, and being so close to our name, we had to get it.

Also: this jam-filled gingerbread pastry I'm holding is, yes, shaped like a chicken :D

Three other things we've realized about Europe that result in drastic changes to our diets:

1) Water. No one drinks tap water here, especially in Ukraine, because it's not good for you. I heard some people in Germany saying that isn't true, that it's just a way for the water companies to get you to buy bottled water and the restaurants to make money by selling mineral water, and maybe that's true. But in Ukraine, the water in the bathroom smells like concrete. When I'm brushing my teeth or taking a shower, I notice a very minerally smell. So, no drinking it. This lack of readily available (and free) water has been hard for Steve and me to get used to because, being athletes, we are usually very, very good at keeping hydrated. It has become a habit for us to drink water all the time. Especially when eating, to cleanse our palates a little bit between bites. But I don't think either of us have been truly hydrated since we got here. We constantly have to buy water (and luckily it is cheap at the market) but we go through it so fast, and when we're walking around town, there are no drinking fountains for us to stop at. Plus, at restaurants, we're both still in the mindset that if we're going to spend money on a beverage, we're going to buy a beer, not water. (Or, if you're me, you order Fanta. The only soda options that are really available here are Coke, Sprite, and orange Fanta. I have an especially bad weakness for orange Fanta, so I have ordered it almost every time we've gone out to eat, because I am still a bit sick and thus cannot fully enjoy beer.)

2) Beer. Really the only kind of beer anyone drinks over here is lager. Being a dark beer kind of girl, this is taking me some getting used to. Some of the lagers we've tried are actually pretty good (not Bud Lite or any of the commercial American lagers) but when I want a beer, especially if it's not being served ice cold, I want a stout or a porter. Something heavy and full of sweet malty deliciousness.

3) Ice. I am so used to getting more ice than water/soda/etc at American restaurants that this whole concept of not having ice is foreign to me. Also, even the refrigerators here are not as cold as they are in the States. So those of you who can go home and have a nice, free glass of ice water at the end of a long, tiring, hot day: please embrace and appreciate all its cold loveliness. It has been hot and humid here, and we've been walking around a lot, and we have not been able to get an icy cold beverage at the end of these kinds of days. And oh, how I long for one.