Ukrainian hospitality. If you’ve been invited to the Ukrainian house

When invited to dinner in someone’s home, casual attire is generally accepted

Ukrainians are generous people and gracious hosts. It is a real treat to be invited into a Ukrainian home where guests are treated like royalty, and an even greater compliment to be invited to sit around the kitchen table. Be prepared to remove your shoes upon entering a friend’s home. To keep their apartments clean, most hosts will provide you with a pair of slippers called tapochky.

When invited to dinner in someone’s home, casual attire is generally accepted. For your part, bringing a small gift is customary and, in my opinion, mandatory. Acceptable gifts include alcohol, juice, chocolates, cake, or a bouquet of flowers. If you bring flowers, make sure that the number is odd; even numbers are reserved for funerals. It is also entirely appropriate to give flowers to other men’s wives, just don’t get carried away. Perfumed hand creams or a bar of fancy soap are a welcome treat for your Ukrainian hostess. If there is a child, it is customary to bring a small gift as well. Gum or candy is generally appropriate; by all means if you have a souvenir from your own country, this will be well received.

What is Ukrainian home looks like

On certain occasions, you may want to give a small gift other than food, drink, or flowers. This small token of friendship doesn’t have to be expensive, and probably should not be. Instead of giving something that is available in Ukraine, souvenirs from your home state or country, such as postcards, pins, and key chains are a good idea. Likewise, in business settings, a pen or other trinket with your company’s insignia is always appreciated.

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about Ukraine is that you won’t find many homes, or even some parts of homes, that you might call unlivable. Homes that I’ve visited, and by this I mean apartments and occasionally dachas, are eminently livable, lived-in, comfortable, and sometimes a bit disorderly. Furnishings vary; the luckier homes may have a piano, and bookshelves are generally prominent and well stocked. I’ve encountered several homes with a wall-sized photograph resembling the backdrop of a late-night talk show that never changes regardless of the season. Rugs hanging on walls are both decorative and serve as insulation. I especially love that the furniture and space have multiple purposes: the living room or den becomes an extra bedroom, thanks to all those amazing chairs – to say nothing of the couches – that convert into beds; the writing table is also the dining table, and so on.

Ukrainian homes reflect the personalities of their owners, which is to say that they are unpretentious, practical, and adaptive. Your hosts, or more likely hostesses, are generally unapologetic if their floors are less than well-scrubbed. The constraints of limited space and the need for adaptable uses mean that the homes are generally neat and ready for the next transition.

In the Ukrainian kitchen, guests are treated like family or at the very least as intimate friends. This point should not be taken lightly: in a culture accustomed to communal living, privacy and trust are at a premium. In the Soviet era, one learned to be very selective in choosing friends; only with your most trusted friends could you sit in the kitchen and speak a little more openly if you dared.

Food and drink

When visiting friends, you should be prepared to accept all food and drink that is offered, flatly turning down food may be considered rude. Ukrainians don’t seem to understand vegetarians, dieters, or alcoholics, so if any of these applies to you, you will need to proceed gingerly. Sometimes people get around this by saying that they have an allergic reaction. Ukrainians do understand the concept of white lies. They are known to fib under certain circumstances so as not to offend their guests.

At the dinner table take small helpings, as you will be encouraged to take more later. Also, be careful when complimenting your hosts’ belongings, as you might be offered the admired object.

When you are invited into someone’s home, amateur entertainment is sometimes part of the evening’s festivities. Occasionally your hosts will ask you to sing something, but it is more likely that your female hostesses will perform for you.

Visit a real Hutsul family

One of our tours offers staying in a Hutsul family for couple of days. It’s an ideal option for socializing in the Carpathians as it has to be. Spend few unforgettable days in a remote Carpathian village.