Meals in Ukraine

The hospitality of the Ukrainian people is well-known throughout the world. The usual meals in Ukraine are breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper.

Breakfast is the first meal in the day. Lunch is a light meal usually in the middle of the day.

Dinner is the chief and the most substantial meal. It isn’t served at a definite hour in our country. When, it is in the middle of the day, the lighter evening meal is called supper.

Working people usually have a break for dinner at their place of employment. During the break they have either dinner or lunch.

In great many Ukrainian homes dinner is followed by a cup of tea with a slice of lemon, jam or home-made pastry.

If you have a special dinner, a housewarming party for example, you should know how to lay the table on such an occasion.

First you spread the table-cloth and put out table-mats to protect the table from the hot dishes: a tureen of soup, a bowl of hot vegetables, a platter of meat, a boat of sauce, etc. Then you take out of the drawer in the sideboard soup spoons for the soup, spoons for the sweet and all the cutlery-knives and forks, including a small knife for the butter, a small knife and fork for the hors d’oeuvres and a fruit knife for the dessert.

You should put the knives and the soup spoon on the right-hand side and the fork on the left, except the spoon for the sweet which you should put a cross the top. The you put out the bread-board and a knife to cut the bread.

On the left of each guest you put a small plate for bread and on the right a wine-glass. Don’t forget to put out the table napkins for each guest and place several salt-cellars. Don’t forget to put a bowl of beautiful flowers on the dinner table.

I had thought over the menu of that dinner-party. I began with hors d’oeuvres followed by a clear soup with meat pasties, the second course included chicken with rice and vegetables, salad and so on.

Then ice-cream for the sweet and fruit for dessert. And, of course, there was a nice cake with the candles lighted.

Active Words and Word Combinations:

hospitality - гостинність

substantial - важливий суттєвий

employment – роботя, заняття, служба

home-made pastry – домашня випічка, кондитерські вироби

occasion - випадок, подія

to spread - розстилати

to protect – захищати, відгороджувати

a tureen – супник, супниця

a platter - дерев’яна тарілка

sauce — coyc, приправа, овочевий гарнір