We want to share some background about Chef Brad Kunkel’s Ukrainian family heritage. We interviewed his sister-in-law Janet Kroeker because, according to Kunkel, she knows much more about family history.

HISTORY

Kroeker’s family comes from just southeast of Zaparosia, an area now part of this Ukraine province. In about 1760, Catherine the Great invited many Mennonites, a religious sect persecuted for their antiwar views, to farm the rich land in Zaparosia, then part of the Russian empire. While not of Ukraine by birth, Kroeker’s family assimilated into the culture.

Her grandmother’s family came from a wealthy, wheat-farming family with a big house and lots of servants. Her grandfather’s family was more scholarly and owned a publishing company until it was taken over by the State during the Revolution. Her grandfather attended the University of St. Petersburg in 1917 when the Revolution began.

He wanted nothing to do with the violence, so he joined the publishing company at that time and married her grandmother. He did take part in publishing a radical newspaper and was targeted for being against the government.

No graphic details here, but lots of atrocities occurred during that time including the starvation of one of their children during the forced famine. Kroeker said many parallels exist between what happened in 1921 and 2021.

RELIGION

Kroeker said the religion is Orthodox with more Greek influence than Russian, reminiscent of when Ukraine was part of the Ottoman Empire under Turkey’s rule. Ukrainians accepted her Mennonite family as their religious beliefs were similar. Religion was banned when Stalin came into power. From 1917 to 1930 was thirteen years of continuous hardship. “They lived under a slow, grinding terror,” she said.

This persecution prompted her grandparents’ families to leave. Her grandfather was on the last train to leave before the track was destroyed to prevent anyone else from leaving.

Immigration

With a sponsor and an assured income, her grandfather’s parents came to Minnesota but her grandparents went to Canada in 1925 because the United States wouldn’t allow them entry. Eventually, they went to Minnesota to visit and stayed as illegal aliens.

They moved to South Dakota and bought a farm. Kroeker said that Chef Kunkel’s grandparents, who lived on the next farm over, helped them out a lot or they likely would have starved. Her grandfather’s family were the intellectuals, not the farmers.

She said they survived and assimilated  in to the Mennonite community in South Dakota, but her grandfather never regained his passion and purpose in life.

CULTURE

She said much of Ukrainian culture “is just part of you, no matter where it comes from.” People came to Ukraine from all over (Prussia, Austria, Holland, among others), so Ukrainian heritage is a blend. “Parts of the culture, you can’t separate where it comes from,” she said.

“We appreciate Slavic music. You feel it as part of you. When you’re part of a culture no matter where it specifically came from,” she said.

Kroker said they’re a singing people. Just a couple weeks ago, when the family got together, they intended to sing one song, but it ended up being many more.

“and we always sing in harmony. It’s very much a Ukrainian thing,” she said.

“And, of course, the food,” she said. The family makes paska every year at Easter. It’s a dense bread, flavored with orange. This Easter, her grand nieces and nephews will come and learn how to make it.

Borscht also is popular in Ukraine, but in Ukraine, it’s a cabbage and vegetable soup with no beets, a predominant ingredient in Russian borscht. Sour cream is very popular, and even now, she serves most soups with a dollop on top.

Many other favorites she mentioned will appear on our menu including holubsi (cabbage rolls) and varenyky (farmers cheese-filled dumplings that are boiled then fried).

“We don’t even know it’s part of us. That heritage keeps going, and it’s exciting.”

When she was growing up, Ukraine and Russia were considered part of Asia. Then in the 1970s, Russia became part of Europe.

“Some of our foods have a strong Asian influence. Grandmother taught us to put star anise in our soups,” she said. Ukrainian food has influences from many places that give it a rich quality: Hungary, Austria, Poland, and the Netherlands, all of which have rich food histories.

At Christmastime, they make Russian teacakes which look like Mexican Wedding Cookies but are more dense. Kroeker said a New Year’s tradition still prevails that goes back to when the Mennonite sect began in what is now The Netherlands.

Portzelky, similar to fritters, are made on New Year’s morning. She said sometimes they have raisins or apples in them.

“You can buy portzelky on a street in Amsterdam on any given day, and it’ll taste the same as it did back then,” she said. “And That’s from the 16^th century to the 21^st century which is amazing to me.”