Imagine a food delivery service that brings all the components of pierogies—dough, filling, onions and sour cream—straight to your door.
This Ukrainian Uber Eats fantasy was a reality on March 20, when the Carleton Ukrainian Students’ Club hosted their annual pierogi night. The club delivered pierogi-making kits to students in the Ottawa area and hosted a Facebook Live to guide them through making the delectable dumplings at home.
Students attending the event could also pick up their pierogi kits in person. For those outside Ottawa, the Carleton Ukrainians emailed participants a “Baba-approved” recipe so everyone could join in.
“We really wanted something which would engage people, but also not be too much work for them,” said Sophie Shields, a second-year global and international studies student at Carleton and president of the Carleton Ukrainian club.
The club’s four executives, plus one other person helping out, took it upon themselves to prepare the pierogi kits.
Shields said they made 50 kits and enough dough, filling and sautéed onions for 60 dozen pierogies total (that’s 720 pierogies, for those doing the math).
This took 90 potatoes, 35 onions and six containers of sour cream. On the day of the event, executives spent 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the CYM Ukrainian culture hall in Ottawa preparing for and hosting the 7 p.m. live stream, including an emergency trip to the grocery store for more sour cream and a few afternoon hours spent delivering kits.
The pierogi kits, which made roughly a dozen pierogies each, were available for purchase for $6. All proceeds will be donated to the Help Us Help The Children initiative, which aims to improve the quality of life for children living in orphanages in Ukraine.
The event was funded in part by the Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union, Shields said.
Pierogies are “a staple in Ukrainian diet,” according to Arianna Fuke, the Carleton Ukrainian club’s vice-president (finance) and second-year global and international studies student at Carleton.
Fuke said she learned how to make pierogies from her grandparents and would make them together at family gatherings during Christmas and Easter.
“Pierogies themselves are a really good vehicle for passing on tradition,” Fuke said. “While you sit there and learn how to make them, you’re … also listening to your grandparents’ stories and you’re listening to the things they used to do as children growing up in Ukraine.”
She said one woman who bought the kit sent the recipe to her son, who lives on the east coast. Even though they couldn’t be physically together, they could replicate time spent together in person by engaging in the same activity at the same time.
“It’s not only the pierogies that you enjoy,” Petryshyna said. She added that even though it was her first time making them, her pierogies “were perfect.”
“You enjoy the activity. You enjoy making them, so it’s really worth the price,” she said.
Petryshyna said she will definitely attend the event next year.
“Why not just spend a Saturday night making pierogies?” she said.
Featured image by the Carleton Ukrainians Students’ Club]
