Sometimes, to fall in love with your native cuisine all over again, you just need to look a little deeper. Everyone knows borscht, varenyky and cabbage rolls. But there is a whole collection of forgotten or little-known Ukrainian dishes that deserve attention. Here is my selection of favorites.

1. Shpundra is a rich dish of pork stewed with beets in kvass. Cossack heritage is something between a stew and a warm salad.

2. Kulesh is a thick millet porridge in meat broth with fried lard and onions. Simple, cheap and incredibly filling. Ideal in a thermos outdoors.

3. Nettle borscht — spring soup made from young nettles. My grandmother's signature dish — light, vitamin-rich and energizing.

4. Palyanitsa with poppy seeds and honey — a festive sweet flatbread with a delicate texture. Literally melts in your mouth.

5. Liver cake — a layered appetizer made from liver with a carrot and onion layer. Sounds unusual, but in the village it is a delicacy.

6. Pickled apples — a universal dish: both a side dish and a dessert. An ideal complement to meat.

7. Verguny — crispy airy "ears" made from dough in powdered sugar. In childhood, they were prepared in whole baskets.

8. Kiselicia — a thick oat soup with a characteristic sourness. Surprisingly simple and unusual.

9. Kartoplyaniki with mushrooms — crispy potato pancakes with mushroom filling.

10. Machanka — a thick sour cream sauce with meat, which is served with homemade pancakes.

When I began to study these dishes and their stories, the culinary world of Ukraine opened up to me from a new side. It turned out that our cuisine can be exquisite, multifaceted, unexpected and homely warm.