BORSCHT: Preserving and Promoting the Culture of Ukrainian Borscht Cooking
A project dedicated to preserving, documenting, and promoting regional and family traditions of Ukrainian borscht cooking as part of Ukraine’s living intangible cultural heritage.
Status: Ongoing
Implementation DateApril 2026 - May 2050
Project Focus Areas:Other
Partner
All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities
Hryshkovetska Territorial Community: host community and partner of the pilot Borscht Championship
ISAR Ednannia: support for the implementation of the pilot phase
Project Goal
To preserve, research, and promote the culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking through the systematic documentation of regional and family recipes, stories, and local traditions; the engagement of communities and bearers of intangible cultural heritage; and the creation of an accessible digital environment for preserving and presenting these materials.
The project also aims to develop a sustainable model for the Borscht Championship that will showcase the diversity of borscht traditions across different regions of Ukraine and contribute to community development through gastronomic cultural heritage.
BORSCHT is a long-term project aimed at preserving and promoting the culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking. The project combines:
- documentation of family and local recipes;
- research into regional traditions;
- engagement with communities;
- organisation of the Borscht Championship;
- development of a digital platform where the collected materials will be systematised and made accessible to a broad audience.
Pilot phase. The first stage was the Borscht Championship, held on 12 September 2026 in the village of Halchyn, Hryshkovetska Territorial Community, Zhytomyr Oblast, as part of the local festival “White Borscht and More…”. Fourteen communities from 14 regions of Ukraine took part, presenting their own borscht traditions and recipes. A dedicated evaluation methodology was developed for the Championship, with the borscht entries assessed by an independent jury according to established criteria.
Next phase. The next stage will involve a nationwide collection of family and local borscht recipes using a unified methodology. The information collected will include ingredients and cooking methods, the origin of the recipe, family history, geographical location, local characteristics, and other information necessary to document the tradition. At the same time, an online platform is being developed to bring together documented recipes, stories, and materials about borscht traditions from different regions of Ukraine.
Scaling up. In the future, the project is planned to expand by engaging communities across the country, developing regional stages of the Borscht Championship, and establishing a sustainable national model for preserving and promoting this gastronomic heritage.
Achieved to Date
- the first pilot Borscht Championship was held on 12 September 2026 in the village of Halchyn, Zhytomyr Oblast;
- 14 communities from 14 regions of Ukraine participated;
- a methodology for evaluating borscht entries was developed and tested;
- the tasting was conducted using a unified set of evaluation criteria;
- representatives of Kherson and Kirovohrad oblasts were the winners of the pilot Championship;
- a unified methodology for documenting family and local borscht recipes is being developed;
- an online form for the nationwide collection of recipes is being developed.
Planned
- launch of a nationwide collection of family and local borscht recipes;
- creation of a systematised database of documented recipes and the stories associated with them;
- development and launch of the project’s online platform;
- presentation of the regional diversity of the culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking;
- engagement of Ukrainian communities in documenting and promoting local gastronomic heritage;
- development of a sustainable model for organising the Borscht Championship with regional representation;
- creation of tools for the continued preservation, research, and transmission of borscht traditions to future generations;
- development of cooperation with government institutions, communities, experts, and other partners working in the field of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
The following materials are currently being developed as part of the project:
- a methodology for collecting and documenting family and local borscht recipes;
- a unified online recipe submission form;
- a methodology for organising and evaluating the Borscht Championship;
- the concept for the project’s online platform.
The materials will be added once the relevant stages of the project have been completed.
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