Preserves: The Manitoba Food HIstory PODCAST

DAN SKWARCHUK: There is a custom that they associate with Kutia: And it’s taking a spoonful and flipping it up into the ceiling. And if it sticks to the ceiling, you’ll have good crops for the coming year. It also—if that Kutia drops from the ceiling, and somebody catches it, they’ll have good luck for the year.¹

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: That was Dan Skwarchuk, a third generation Ukrainian-Canadian, my grandpa, and expert in our family’s Ukrainian heritage and traditions. My name is Allie Skwarchuk and today, I will be your guide to becoming an honourary member of the Skwarchuk family. Grandpa was just talking about Kutia. If you are part of the 1.36 million Canadians who identify at least one of their ethnic origins as Ukrainian,² maybe Kutia is familiar to you, or part of your own family’s traditions. If not, allow us to explain.

DAN SKWARCHUK: Kutia is a very old and ancient recipe that has been used by the Ukrainians for centuries. And even a thousand years!³ Basically, it’s a dish that is eaten just before the Christmas dishes.⁴

SHIRLEY SKWARCHUK: Well the wheat, the wheat is the main ingredient. Then there’s different things that you can add to it, to your taste.⁵ Usually to the basic Kutia recipe, it’s Kutia, and it’s poppyseed,⁶ and then a syrup base to give it some liquid. But also raisins can be added, walnuts can be added; it’s up to the person’s taste.⁷

SHIRLEY SKWARCHUK: It’s just—that’s how special it is.⁸ That’s how special it is for good health, prosperity, it’s what—that’s what we believe.⁹

DAN SKWARCHUK: One little story I have about Kutia is that my grandfather, before the meal, would always go to the barn and serve his livestock, give them an extra meal of hay and oats, or whatever they had. But it was interesting, I was reading in a book where some of the people, when they make Kutia and the Christmas dishes, they mix up a concoction of all these foods, and they also serve it to their animals, so even the animals end up having Kutia.¹⁰

SHIRLEY SKWARCHUK: It’s our ancestors.¹¹ And all these traditions too have been brought here from the old country.¹²

DAN SKWARCHUK: Yeah.¹³

SHIRLEY SKWARCHUK: And the family’s growing, that has brought it here. And there’s, like you say, there’s somebody does it this way, somebody does it this way, somebody, but it’s still Kutia. Regardless. There’s just so many—In our family, there’s three different ways that it’s made.¹⁴

DAN SKWARCHUK: But the beauty part about these traditions is it gives you a sense of belonging, belonging to a culture that’s yours. It’s your motherland, it’s your mother, you know, and that’s what’s important about keeping your traditions.¹⁵

SHIRLEY SKWARCHUK: Yeah, we’re just proud. The pride is there. You know, it’s in your heart.¹⁶ And the thing, what is so interesting is that my parents, my mom and your grandpa’s mom made the Kutia. And now that they’re gone, it’s passed on to us to do it. And your mom is starting to do it. So, guess who’s next.¹⁷

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: I’m next! [laughs]¹⁸

SHIRLEY SKWARCHUK: You know, and yeah, that’s how the traditions are carried on, and they’re going to change a little to what, you know, what times are like, or what people like, and, but they’re rooted deeply in our hearts. We know it’s something that you just don’t forget.¹⁹

DAN SKWARCHUK: The earliest Skwarchuk that came to Canada was in 1905.²⁰ It was William, Bill Skwarchuk.²¹

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: You’re right. His name has been Anglicized from Wasyl. Even the spelling of Skwarchuk was changed. Apparently, it was common practice for Ukrainians in Canada to anglicize their names in order to avoid discrimination.²²

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: But of course, great-great-great-grandpa Skwarchuk wasn’t alone on his journey to settling in Canada; he was part of a large wave of Ukrainian immigration. This included around 170 000 Ukrainians that immigrated to Canada between 1896 and 1914,²³ making them one of the most prominent immigrant groups.²⁴ Ukrainian immigrants were settled almost entirely in Manitoba and what was known as the Northwest Territories: in other words, the Districts of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.²⁵

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: On a plot of land approximately fifty kilometres north of Yorkton. He came with his wife and four children. Actually, by 1905 when he arrived in Assiniboia, the Ukrainian immigrant communities were quite populated.²⁶ In 1901, several years before his arrival, there were already around 4500 Ukrainian settlers in the Yorkton and Saltcoats area.²⁷

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: Yes, it was. As Wasyl made the journey on the S.S. Montreal he was quickly approaching a very difficult situation filled with constant adjustment and plagued by deep insecurity and frustration.²⁸ Scholar Vladimir Kaye notes that upon arrival in Canada, “in order to overcome these hardships and to maintain their psychological balance, the immigrants tried to reconstruct an environment which was familiar to them, one similar to that which they had left behind in Europe.”²⁹ This included settling in village groups with houses built in the Ukrainian way, and naming many of their new towns after the Ukrainian villages they left behind.³⁰

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: Well, many Canadians were skeptical and held prejudice toward the new Ukrainian immigrants, but a portion of their opinions would change.³¹ In July of 1903, General Colonizing Agent C.W. Speers published a report on the Ukrainian settlement in Rosthern to the Superintendent of Immigration in Ottawa. In the report, Speers explains how he was “astonished at the progress of these people; their agricultural equipment; their horses and their cattle; and they have built good comfortable homes. Their adaptability to our customs, both in manner and dress, their anxiety to acquire the English language with many other qualities possessed by these people, make them most desirable settlers.”³²

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: There were definitely some Canadians that supported the government’s immigration policy.³³ An interview by the Montreal Gazette with Fred Villenueve in 1901 shows a similar sentiment. He describes Ukrainian immigrants as “fine settlers, and in a comparatively short time will develop into good and patriotic Canadians.”³⁴

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: These testimonies paint the Ukrainian way of life as a practice that was somewhat arbitrarily deemed acceptable in the eyes of some Canadians. Although Ukrainians were expected to assimilate into Canadian Anglophone culture,³⁵ maybe the perception of Ukrainian culture as more acceptable allowed them to hold on to more of their Ukrainian-ness through the process of assimilation.

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: Much of the Anglophone Conservative press held negative views of the new Ukrainian immigrants, describing them as “the scum of Europe,” unfit to be considered white.³⁶ Because of this, some critics pushed for the segregation of Ukrainians and other Slavic immigrants in order to not “dilute the British character of the West,” while others argued that they should be dispersed from other Ukrainians in order to speed up the process of assimilation.³⁷

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: Generally, Ukrainians continued to settle in blocs, as they were in the old country because this aligned with the Canadian government’s ultimate plan to cultivate and settle the plains.³⁸ This allowed them, to some extent, to continue perpetuating their own culture, rather than interacting with Canadian culture, which would have sped up cultural change.³⁹

On the other hand, Indigenous people living on the prairies were forced into farming, treaties, and eventually onto reserves after the bison population virtually went extinct, crumbling their economy.⁴⁰ Author James Daschuk of Clearing the Plains explains that “with completion of the numbered treaties, the blue-print was set for conversion of the Indigenous population to agriculture and settlement of the prairies with European farmers.”⁴¹ In this instance, Ukrainian immigrants were very privileged to be allowed to continue with their own cultural practices, including farming, allowing them to pass on more of their traditions to future generations.

KENT DAVIES: So then, you would say Ukrainians are traditionally good farmer.⁴²

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: Yes. Afterall, much of Ukrainian territory is prime area for cultivating grains.⁴³ Aside from its benefits to the Canadian Government’s expansion plan, tending to crops and gardening was one of the primary ways that Ukrainian settlers were able to survive in this new environment.⁴⁴ Although destitution occurred among some families, their condition generally improved after the family was able to establish their first modest crop.⁴⁵ The foods that settlers grew provided more than just sustenance for their family; they also reinforced their Ukrainian ethnic identity as many foods hold cultural value.⁴⁶ Even today, Grandma reminds me of how symbolic these ingredients are. Like in Kutia:

SHIRLEY SKWARCHUK: The wheat represents the straw of the manger, the honey and poppyseed represents the Christ child, and the honey represents the spirit of the blood of Christ.⁴⁷ The wheat is the important ingredient.⁴⁸

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: In fact, according to Canadian food historian Thelma Barer-Stein, “there is no aspect of Ukrainian life or afterlife that is not celebrated with the holiness of grain.”⁴⁹ Wheat is an integral part of virtually every important event in Ukrainian culture.⁵⁰ For example, traditional bread is served at holiday functions, like Paska at easter and Kolach at Christmas, and another symbolic bread called Korovai is presented to the newlyweds at their wedding.⁵¹ Even at funerals, grains of wheat may accompany the dead in their burial.⁵²

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: Yes, and let me tell you, they are tasty! There are some things that we just don’t go without in my family: salt, sour cream, onions, and bread. Maybe the moms, grandmas and aunts that made our food may not have explicitly thought about their effect on our culture, but food has come to be an integral aspect of Ukrainian Canadian identity.⁵³ New layers of symbolism are added to Ukrainian foods as time progresses. For example, back in newly established Ukrainian settlements in Canada, it was common for settlers to sell their first crop of wheat in order to sponsor family and friends they left back in Ukraine to join them in Canada.⁵⁴ In this context, not only does the wheat carry its ancient cultural significance from the old country, but it also represents the reunion of loved ones.

ALLIE SKWARCHUK: Yes, but it definitely hasn’t all been rosy. Going further back into Ukrainian history reveals a trajectory filled with food seizures and shortages, famine, and countless invasions, including Stalin’s ‘death by starvation’, a genocide designed to exterminate Ukrainian peasants.⁵⁵ Because no family was left untouched from these traumas, in Ukraine and in the diaspora alike, food traditions are sacred and valuable.⁵⁶ They have allowed Ukrainians to link ourselves to our ancestors and preserve aspects of our culture for the next generation to enjoy, just like a nice dill pickle.⁵⁷

February twenty-fourth, 2022. Early in the morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.⁵⁸ Russian attack on Ukraine is nothing new; it’s an old wound that has never been allowed to heal.⁵⁹

DAN SKWARCHUK: And you would think that in this day and age, the—you know, what we know, and where we’ve been, what we’ve done—that there should not even be a hint of war anywhere.⁶⁰ It’s so extreme there. Like there’s a person from Russia, Putin, who is just trying to annihilate everything in his way. And it’s just, I can’t understand that. I just don’t see the reason for it.⁶¹ I mean, Canada’s always our, you know, my country, my home, my you know. But we all came from somewhere, and Ukraine is where we came from.⁶²

DAN SKWARCHUK: A candle is put in the window and lit, and it’s for any wayward stranger that’s walking and hasn’t got a place to eat or a place to go to keep warm. He sees the candle in the window, and he’s welcome to that house.⁶³

SOURCES

¹ Shirley Skwarchuk and Dan Skwarchuk. Interview by Allie Skwarchuk, Manitoba Food History Project, June 23, 2022, Digital Audio recording, 00:08:56-00:09:33.

² Max Stick and Feng Hou, “Economic and Social Reports: A sociodemographic profile of Ukrainian-Canadians,” last modified April 28, 2022.

³ Skwarchuk interview, 00:02:02-00:02:14.

⁴ Skwarchuk interview, 00:02:15-00:02:26.

⁵ Skwarchuk interview, 00:04:25-00:04:39.

⁶ Skwarchuk interview, 00:04:46-00:04:53.

⁷ Skwarchuk interview, 00:04:58-00:05:08.

⁸ Skwarchuk interview, 00:20:36-00:20:39.

⁹ Skwarchuk interview, 00:20:39-00:20:51.

¹⁰ Skwarchuk interview, 00:22:50-00:23:42.

¹¹ Skwarchuk interview, 00:30:16-00:30:19.

¹² Skwarchuk interview, 00:30:11-00:30:16.

¹³ Skwarchuk interview, 00:11:19-00:11:20.

¹⁴ Skwarchuk interview, 00:30:20-00:30:39.

¹⁵ Skwarchuk interview, 00:30:55-00:31:13.

¹⁶ Skwarchuk interview, 00:31:10-00:31:15.

¹⁷ Skwarchuk interview, 00:25:24-00:25:51.

¹⁸ Skwarchuk interview, 00:25:51-00:25:53.

¹⁹ Skwarchuk interview, 00:25:54-00:26:17.

²⁰ Skwarchuk interview, 00:24:31-00:24:37.

²¹ Skwarchuk interview, 00:24:39-00:24:44.

²² “Ukrainian,” Library and Archives Canada, last modified March 6, 2020.

²³ Brian Osborne, “‘Non-Preferred’ People: Inter-war Ukrainian Immigration to Canada,” in Canada’s Ukrainians: Changing Perspectives, 1891-1991 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991), 81.

²⁴ Vladimir Kaye, “On the Threshold of the New Century,” in Early Ukrainian Settlements in Canada 1895-1900 (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1964), 361.

²⁵ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 361.

²⁶ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 372.

²⁷ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 372.

²⁸ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 362.

²⁹ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 362.

³⁰ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 362.

³¹ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 366.

³² C.W. Speers, (Ottawa, 1903), quoted in Vladimir Kaye, “On the Threshold of the New Century,” 364.

³³ John Lehr, “Peopling the Prairies with Ukrainians,” in Canada’s Ukrainians: Changing Perspectives, 1891-1991, ed. Lubomyr Luciuk, Stella Hryniuk (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991), 38.

³⁴ Fred Villenueve, quoted in Vladimir Kaye, “On the Threshold of the New Century,” 373.

³⁵ Lehr, “Peopling the Prairies,” 38.

³⁶ Lehr, “Peopling the Prairies,” 38.

³⁷ Lehr, “Peopling the Prairies,” 38-39.

³⁸ James Daschuk, Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life (Regina: University of Regina, 2019), 100.

³⁹ Lehr, “Peopling the Prairies,” 38-39.

⁴⁰ Daschuk, Clearing the Plains, 100-101, 114.

⁴¹ Daschuk, Clearing the Plains, 99.

⁴² Holyck Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead: The Ukrainian Food Colossi of the Canadian Prairies,” in Edible Histories, Cultural Politics: Towards a Canadian Food History, ed. Francia Iacovetta, Valerie J. Korinek, Marlene Epp (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012), 148.

⁴³ Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead,” 148.

⁴⁴ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 371.

⁴⁵ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 371.

⁴⁶ Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead,” 142.

⁴⁷ Skwarchuk interview, 00:28:05-00:28:15.

⁴⁸ Skwarchuk interview, 00:05:43-00:05:45.

⁴⁹ Thelma Barer-Stein, You Eat What You Are (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979), 527, quoted in Holyck Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead: The Ukrainian Food Colossi of the Canadian Prairies,” 145.

⁵⁰ Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead,” 145.

⁵¹ Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead,” 145-146.

⁵² Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead,” 145.

⁵³ Stacey Zembrzycki, “ 'We Didn’t Have a Lot of Money, but We Had Food’: Ukrainians and Their Depression-Era Food Memories,” in Edible Histories, Cultural Politics: Towards a Canadian Food History, ed. Francia Iacovetta, Valerie J. Korinek, Marlene Epp (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012), 135.

⁵⁴ Kaye, “Early Ukrainian Settlements,” 364.

⁵⁵ Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead,” 148.

⁵⁶ Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead,” 149.

⁵⁷ Hunchuck, “Feeding the Dead,” 142-144.

⁵⁸ “Putin’s murderous assault on a peaceful neighbor!” Kyiv Post, February 24, 2022.

⁵⁹ Lilia Shevtsova, “Russia’s Ukraine Obsession,” Journal of Democracy 31, no. 11 (January 2020): 139.

⁶⁰ Skwarchuk interview, 01:08:12-01:08:27.

⁶¹ Skwarchuk interview, 01:08:29-01:08:49.

⁶² Skwarchuk interview, 01:07:47-01:08:03.

⁶³ Skwarchuk interview, 00:11:33-00:11:53.