“Today they are safe and we can only hope it stays that way,” Nataliia Duren says of her grandmother and family in Ukraine. She has wonderful memories of her 88 year-old grandmother preparing Varenyky for her family.
“I am able to visit with them now, which is a good thing, the more serious problem today is the controlled delay of food and necessities into the country. It is depriving Ukraine citizens of basic necessities to stay alive,” Nataliia adds.
In an earlier interview we introduced our readers to Nataliia Duren, who is a citizen of Ukraine and living in Weatherford. She married an Oklahoman, Scott Duren, and they were enjoying a peaceful life in Ukraine. Scott was in the oil and gas industry and had made the decision to move to Ukraine with an exciting new venture. As the couple noticed military movement from
As the couple noticed military movement from Russian along the borders of Ukraine in December, Scott felt it was important to move his family back to Oklahoma for a period of time. They hope to return to Ukraine in the future but have no idea when it will be safe enough to return.
Their two children Andrii, age 14 and Kate, 12, are enrolled in Weatherford schools and attending as much as they can although the stress and worry about their family in
The Ukraine situation is making it difficult to focus on studies. In sitting down for an interview Nataliia introduced our staff to Ukrainian comfort food she had prepared.
Varonyky are a stuffed dumpling pastry filled with a variety of potatoes, mushrooms or cabbage and topped with fried onions and a sour cream topping.
The food’s origination is tightly connected to the Mennonite recipes we enjoy at the German Feast at the Corn Bible Academy fundraising dinner each year.
Nataliia agrees that when they eat this dish it is very comfortable food and reminds them of their childhood and the family gathering together to prepare it. She says there are many variations to the recipe from salty, to sour to sweet.
All of them have the dough mixture in common. This commonality is what brings families together across the world. Kate and Andrii have already said American hamburgers are their local comfort food.
Since December they have had very little time to discover Oklahoma and the U.S. and look forward to a boat ride on the OKC River Cruise boats and the Regatta Park because they miss the large river that runs through their city of Kherson in Ukraine.
The family still stays optimistic Ukraine will survive Vladimir Putin’s invasion in Ukraine. They said in Kherson the bombing is slowing down but Putin is resorting to starving the country by blocking access to food and necessities.
“The people of Ukraine care deeply for each other, having struggled many times in history, so they share their food and resources to help keep everyone fed. It is a very sad time for our country but we remain strong in that fact that we will succeed in protecting our country because we have so many friends across the world who care for us.” Nataliia said.