23/03/2026
So my old followers might have missed the guide posts. It’s been a while since I told you the story.
* This is chapter 8. Every 8th chapter (8, 18, 28 etc.) will tell my story and how veganism or it’s aspects were present and changed during my lifetime. The rest are recipes and tips.
So if you are here for the recipes exclusively skip this post, if you want your cookbook to also tell you the stories- this is one for you
Tiger Mommy’s Ultimate Guide on How to Vegan-Chapter 8- Why I don’t speak russian and am not a fan of mayo.
(In sweet memory of my grandparents, Tamara Proterro and Boris (Silim) Meyt Agly, who ran away from Fascists and ended up trying to build Communism, working as USSR Diplomatic representatives all over the world, until, despite having no Ukrainian roots whatsoever, they had joined national democratic pro-European movement. When Ukraine became independent, they taught English and Ukrainian for free to the kids of the returning immigrants for the rest of their lives.
And In the loving memory of the fallen in the latest war Ukrainian heroes).
So, as you might have figured by now, despite holding the Israeli passport when asked about my nationality I would rather say Ukrainian than Israeli.
I have no idea what is the name of the town I was actually born at, but my parents lived on the military base in Latvia which Soviet Government was supposed to shot down. When it actually was shot down, my parents brought two years old me to my paternal grandparents house and disappeared from my life for about 12 years. Our later attempts to build some kind of relationships didn’t work out, so I could just as well say they left for good.
When my grandparents retired from the diplomatic service, grandpa was 70+ and enjoyed his retirement, grandma insisted to continue working, and was twenty something years younger - she worked as an English teacher. Later I figured out she and her friends took part in creating brand new type of schooling - as they realised the Soviet Union was mostly busy raising heartless monsters.
The unfortunate mistake of having their children raised by the Soviet government had to be fixed, and the school I attended was all about love and mutual respect - to each other, to the motherland, language, agriculture. It had a special place in the heart for rye bread with garlic, one of my favourite snacks to this day.
The teaching was half and half in Ukrainian and English. The first cookbook I created, when I was about 8 years old, consisted mostly of the recipes from the English textbook. Unfortunately it didn’t make it to this day.
Stepan Bandera, in our book, was a national hero and the fighter for the independent Ukraine. He was the last man standing against the russian invasion, and is a symbol of strength of Ukrainian resistance. The famous Ukrainian Slava Ukraini-Geroyam Slava was first mentioned in Bandera’s works.
Traditional food of the Ukrainian army were “kasha” and “kulish”. Both dishes were millet based, and can be veganised. Nowadays kasha traditionally refers to buckwheat, thanks to American Jews. The word actually means “porridge” in all Slav languages.
Our favourite school snack was pyrizhky- a thin baked yeast dough filled with sautéed sauerkraut, or potatoes with mushrooms. I make them to this day, and my husband is a big fan.
As for mayo, commonly associated with Eastern European kitchen, I was never a fan - I don’t like the taste. Nevertheless, I do like “Lent mayo” - a vegan sauce made with water from boiling potatoes, oil and mustard.
