You may have heard Ukraine is called the granary of Europe or even the world. Indeed, Ukraine is home to some of the world's most agriculturally productive lands, with large expanses of super-fertile chernozem, or black earth. However, it was only thanks to its people that Ukraine became famous for its bread and feeding the world, and the story behind it is huge.
Cultivating bread grains has long been traditional for modern Ukraine's geographical latitudes, and by long, we mean for at least 7,000 years.
The first evidence of organized agriculture in the area dates back to approximately 5000 BC. Trypiltsi, the first settled population to appear in what is now Ukraine, built its economy on early farming and animal husbandry.
"The evidence for agriculture in Ukraine [and Moldova] comes mostly from grain impressions in pottery," explain scholars Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, Harriet V. Hunt, and Martin K. Jones.
It also appears that Trypiltsi made flour, as archaeologists discovered grinding stones and ovens in their settlements. Although their ovens are known to have been used to create pottery, some scholars presume Trypiltsi could also bake in a traditional sense.
However, even if they did not bake bread, Trypilitsi were known to consume the grains they grew. Given that the first bread was a sort of porridge, we can confidently say that these people ate bread, if not in the form we think of now.
Depicting grains on the pottery was only the beginning of Ukrainians reverence for bread, which has only grown since.
Ukrainians' pagan ancestors had a pantheon of gods and a vast array of religious symbols. Their beliefs were generally pantheistic, but one of their most important symbols was, of course, bread.
The Slavic Svarog, the god of the sky and heavenly fire and father of the sun, was believed to have taught people to bake bread. As a result, the round-baked bread was understood by people of that time as a symbol of the sun.
Bread also played a crucial role in pagan rituals. For instance, according to Ukrainian scholars, pre-Christian peoples in Ukraine offered sacrifices to Perun in the form of bird meat, cattle, and bread, putting bread at the same level as living beings.
Later, bread came to be a symbol of life itself, as found in many Ukrainian ritual songs and sayings.
"The process of bread making is metaphorically depicted [in Slavic folklore] as a journey of life filled with torment, ending in death in the fire of the oven and the teeth of the eater," writes scholar Alexandr Strakhov.
Through these 'torments' and its permanent presence on the family's table, bread finally gains the meaning it still carries now --- an amulet that protects the house and family from evil.
During the time of Kyiv Rus, bread became a staple at every table, from the feasts of the nobility to the peasant's daily nourishment.
Scholar Fedir Vovk notes that bread baking in Kyiv Rus is documented as early as the 11th century. The country was particularly known for its sourdough bread based on hops.
But ritual songs and other forms of Ukrainian oral folklore prove that the bread-making tradition predates this period. Back then, folklore offered insight into the bread-making practices of peasants, in contrast to the upper-class practices documented in literature.
However, the documentation itself changed after the Kyiv Rus turned Christian.
Christian tradition has elevated bread to a very high and important position, as Jesus Christ himself equaled bread to his body. Since then, bread has been depicted in various religious illustrations, such as on the walls of Kyiv's ancient Saint Sophia Cathedral of the 11th century:
"It features peacocks feeding from a bowl of the Heavenly Bread. In Christian symbolism, bread and wine represent communion, while the peacock symbolizes immortality," writes Dr. Vyacheslav Kornienko.
Christianity also gave birth to numerous monastery bakeries, which played a role in popularizing bread. There was even a bit of dispute on this ground, as the Orthodox Church used leavened bread for communion, while the Catholic Church used unleavened bread.
Even though everyday culinary habits in Ukraine have diversified since the 20th century, and many Ukrainians do not build their daily diets around bread anymore, festive breads have maintained their position.
Christian celebrations gave rise to their own distinct festive breads in Ukraine: korochun or kalach for Christmas, paska for Easter, and korovay for Pentecost. All three types of bread are still as popular in Ukraine today as they were centuries ago.
Some scholars note a duality of faith that evolved around bread due to Ukraine's religious transformation: even though the festive loaves are baked in honor of Christian events, the baking process and attitude towards the bread are still influenced by pagan superstitions.
For instance, the Bible does not prohibit or define a specific day for cooking Easter paska bread. However, old beliefs prohibit doing this on Sunday or Friday, threatening various possible curses that await those who break the rule. One of them is the Sun firing out the grain fields, which refers to the pagan bread-sun symbolic connection.
Personal events such as weddings, funerals, and receiving guests are also accompanied by bread in the center of the table or of the whole ritual.
At weddings, Ukrainian newlyweds either kiss bread or bite a piece of korovay during the wedding ceremony, depending on the region. For funerals, Ukrainians bake memorial bread, usually a form of kalach.
Offering guests bread and salt is a Ukrainian tradition that dates back to pre-Christian times. It is documented in various early literature and reflected in folklore, and it is still present in contemporary Ukraine.
One of the most popular proverbs in modern-day Ukraine ---bread is the head of everything--- best reflects the essence of Ukrainians' relations with bread, which are still warm as a freshly baked loaf.
