Beetroot salad is not indigenous Ukrainian dish, moreover, not even Slavic. It is still unknown what people invented this vegetable salad, but it definitely became a permanent feature of Ukrainian cuisine long ago. Beetroot salad is loved and valued on par with traditional national dishes here. It is made of boiled vegetables - potato, beetroot, carrot - pickles, onions or scallions, sauerkraut, pickled vegetables. The salad is regularly seasoned with mixture of vinegar, vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Due to the fact that it has no components of animal origin, beetroot salad is vegetarians' favourite dish. Being ideal Lenten dish, it is especially popular during Orthodox fasting.

In Ukraine dressed herring is mostly served at New Year celebration. It originated in Russia in the early 20th century and then spread to all former USSR cuisines including Ukrainian. Since then Shuba (literally: fur coat; colloquial name for dressed herring) is rightly considered to be national Ukrainian dish. Shuba is multicomponent dish. Its main ingredient is herring of spiced salting covered with layers of different vegetables: onion, potato, carrot and beet root. It's better to serve this salad in deep bowls with ledges or in special serving ring. Shuba is regularly made upon standard recipe that is seldom changed in order not to break the harmony of taste. However, some housewives add grated apple to the dressed herring salad, and the combination of sweet and salty gives the dish piquant taste.

Tasty and fragrant borsht is the rich Ukrainian cuisine's trademark, in regard this original dish was described in literary works by Ukrainian and Russian classical writers for a reason. You won't find a housewife in Ukraine, who can't cook borsht, although it's not the simplest dish at all. It has plenty of components and complicated cooking technology. Borsht has many varieties and is cooked differently in different regions of Ukraine. Everything depends on products' combination and they can be very different. However, its main component - beetroot - is used in any kind of borsht without fail. It is beetroot that gives borsht its distinctive red color. Another first course's invariable ingredient is meat: it might be pork, beef or poultry depending on cooker's preferences. There is vegetarian borsht, though, where meat is usually replaced with kidney beans. Containing multitude of ingredients - mainly meat, various vegetables and seasonings, as well as pork fat with garlic in some recipes - borsht definitely helps to strengthen immune system and keeps from catching cold in winter. However, Ukrainian borsht's main advantage is its unbelievable taste! Freshly cooked borsht has an incomparable scent, and there is no substitute for its rich taste in the world. Borsht is regularly served with sour cream and pampushkas with garlic.

This low-fat, tasty salad is very popular in Ukraine during fast. Either cooked or canned haricot beans can be used.