Odesa region and Bessarabia
Одещина й Бессарабія
Odesa region and Bessarabia
Ukraine's largest wine-growing region and a land of multi-ethnic cooking on the north-western Black Sea coast. Odesa lies east of the Dniester; Bessarabia is the historical region between the Dniester and the Prut, whose southern part, Budzhak, now forms the south-west of Odesa Oblast.
Bessarabia is a historical region between the Dniester, the Prut and the mouth of the Danube, about 45,600 square kilometres in area, of which some 14,400 belong to Ukraine; most of it is the territory of present-day Moldova. The southern part of Bessarabia is historically called Budzhak (from a Turkish word meaning «corner»). In the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries it was home to nomadic Nogais; after they left, Bulgarians, Gagauz, Moldovans, Ukrainians and settlers from other provinces of the empire settled there. In 1812 the region passed to the Romanov Empire, in 1918–1940 it belonged to Romania, and in 1940 its south and north became part of Ukraine. Odesa itself and the lands east of the Dniester are not part of Bessarabia; the two are presented together because today they form one oblast and one wine zone.
Odesa Oblast has the largest vineyard area in Ukraine: 40,300 hectares at the beginning of 2004. Viticulture in the northern Black Sea region was begun by Greek colonies in the sixth century BCE. Especially good table wines come from the Shabo sands near the Dniester estuary and from the Bolhrad and Tarutyne districts. From 1822 settlers from the Swiss canton of Vaud made their home in Shabo, and their farms spread model practice in viticulture and winemaking. Varieties include Aligoté, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rkatsiteli, Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Fetească, used for table, fortified, dessert and sparkling wines.
The cuisine of the Bessarabian part reflects its ethnic make-up. Ukraine's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage includes milina, a filled pastry of thin dough associated with Bulgarian villages (2022); the culture of making and eating placinda in the villages of the Frumushika river valley, common among Moldovans and Romanians (2022); the culture of traditional sheep farming in Bessarabia (2023); and the fish soup of Biliaivka on the Dniester (2022). Bessarabian bryndza is an important local product.
The Ukrainian south of Bessarabia should not be equated with Bessarabia as a whole, nor Odesa's urban cuisine with Bessarabian village cooking: they are neighbouring but distinct traditions.
