Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio

In this episode of Ukrainian Food Flair on Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio, Sylvia shares the storied tradition of Ukrainian Easter Babka—a tall, cylindrical sweet bread that’s as demanding as it is rewarding. Babka is made from a delicate raised yeast dough and was considered one of the most important and demanding tasks of the Ukrainian homemaker during the Easter holiday season. The preparation is time‑consuming, but the end result—rich, tender, fine‑textured, spongy, and very light—is well worth the effort.This version is more manageable with modern kitchen conveniences, while maintaining the character of the original. It includes a yeast starter, enriched dough with citrus and raisins, and a simple icing of icing sugar, lemon juice, and warm water, finished with baker’s confetti.Whether you’re a seasoned baker or trying Babka for the first time, this episode offers a glimpse into the heritage behind the loaf—and why its successful rise is considered a true triumphFor the full recipe and more legacy-rich dishes, check out the cookbook Ukrainian Food Flair: Authentic Recipes from Canada's West Coast.

This episode explores the work of the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate (SSMI) through the lens of one of their most significant ministries: the Home of Hope in Ukraine. The SSMI recently opened a second Home of Hope in Chernivtsi, created in response to the large influx of internally displaced people in western Ukraine.The first Home of Hope in Lviv was created to support girls who have nowhere to go once they age out of orphanages or face circumstances that leave them without secure housing.The conversation brings together Catherine Fox and Nadiia Jarosz of the Lubov SSMI Foundation in Winnipeg, along with Sophia, a current resident of the home, to illustrate how this ministry provides stability, safety, and community for vulnerable young women.Nadiia describes the practical challenges of establishing the residence, the renovations required, and the ongoing support Lubov provides for essentials such as food, utilities, education, and medical care.Sophia offers a firsthand perspective on what the home means for students navigating university life during wartime. She speaks about arriving with nowhere to live, the daily rhythm of shared meals, prayer, study, and the psychological and art‑therapy support that has become essential as air raid alerts and uncertainty shape daily life. Her reflections highlight the emotional resilience and sense of belonging the Sisters foster.Catherine explains how the Sisters expanded their ministry to Chernivtsi, supported by donors across Canada and abroad, to meet the growing need for safe housing and community for young women.For more information visit the Lubov website.Look for the full transcript at the Nash Holos blog.

In this interview, filmmaker Maxim Khomenko talks about Standing Free, his debut documentary filmed in Ukraine during Russia’s full‑scale invasion.Born and raised in Canada into a Ukrainian family from Kyiv, Max describes returning to a country at war, seeing his family home destroyed by russian missiles, travelling alone into active combat zones, surviving nearby strikes, and filming evacuations and frontline life with Ukrainian soldiers. He reflects on the unity he witnessed, the role of humour and resilience, and the painful reality that some of the people in his film did not live to see it completed.Max also outlines the practical side of the project: building a small international crew, securing financial support, and carrying bags of medical supplies and equipment into Ukraine on each trip. Listeners will come away with a deeper sense of the film’s perspective — and the meaning behind its title, Standing Free.Full transcript at the Nash Holos website.

In this archival feature of Ukrainian Food Flair, a long‑running series on Nash Holos, you will hear the story and recipe behind beetniks — traditional Ukrainian bread rolls wrapped in beet leaves.Beetniks hold a special place in Ukrainian Canadian kitchens — a dish instantly recognized across Canada yet virtually unheard of in Ukraine itself. For Ukrainian pioneers and their descendants, these beet‑leaf‑wrapped bread rolls have long been a cherished seasonal treat, made only when the garden offers perfect young leaves.This podcast features the voice of the late Sylvia Molnar, a beloved culinary personality in Vancouver, who presented her recipes, stories, and cooking on Nash Holos in the series Ukrainian Food Flair.The recipe appears in Ukrainian Food Flair: The Cookbook, published as a tribute to her culinary legacy and now available from online booksellers (including Amazon) to home cooks everywhere.

This Knyzhka Corner book review features Ukrainian Food Flair, a collection of more than 200 recipes by Sylvia Molnar, whose culinary life touched classrooms, home kitchens, and media studios across Vancouver. The collection captures Sylvia’s warmth, wit, West Coast Ukrainian sensibility, and her talent for making even ambitious dishes approachable.Edited and published posthumously, the cookbook draws from the archives of her long‑running segment on Nash Holos, preserving the dishes she shared over decades.If you enjoy cooking, collecting cookbooks, or discovering new takes on familiar Ukrainian flavours, this review offers a taste of what’s inside. Listen in—and you may find yourself planning your next batch of pyrizhky or eyeing the dessert chapter before the episode ends.Full review transcript at the Nash Holos website.

This conversation was recorded in early 2025. Event references reflect that date.Ukrainian newcomer Olena Lavrishcheva speaks with Pawlina about her family’s extraordinary journey from Kyiv to Nanaimo, their experience of the full‑scale invasion, and the community work now emerging on Vancouver Island.Olena recounts how she, her husband, and two of their daughters were unexpectedly outside Ukraine—on a cruise in Dubai—when Russia launched its brutal assault. Their four younger children and son‑in‑law were still in Kyiv. What followed was a frantic, days‑long effort to reunite the family at the Romanian border, followed by months of displacement in Turkey and Germany before finally settling in Nanaimo. Today, eleven family members are here.Before the war, Olena ran a private school in Kyiv and worked with youth through a missions foundation, including educational programs in Turkey. In Nanaimo, she is a teaching assistant at Nanaimo Christian School, while her adult daughters—also trained educators—have secured teaching positions. Alongside work and family responsibilities, Olena has helped launch a new community organization: the Canadian Alliance of Ukrainian Workers.She explains that the Alliance was created to unite Ukrainians and Canadians who want to support humanitarian needs in Ukraine and help newcomers integrate and contribute locally. The group brings together people with Ukrainian roots and local supporters who want to take meaningful, practical steps—small but impactful—to assist those affected by the war.Olena also describes the organization’s early initiatives, including a community cultural event held in February 2025 to mark the third year of the full‑scale invasion. The gathering featured music, reflections on Ukraine before and during the war, cultural presentations, video segments, and Ukrainian food. While the event has passed, the goals behind it remain central: to remember, to inform, to celebrate Ukrainian culture, and to strengthen community connections.Listeners wishing to learn more about the Canadian Alliance of Ukrainian Workers or to get involved may contact Olena by text at 778‑674‑8771.

This podcast features a review of the first book in a trilogy by Canadian author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch titled Kidnapped from Ukraine. The trilogy brings to light the horrific human impact of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022. His first invasion occurred in 2014 when he took Crimea and portions of Eastern Ukraine.Skrypuch's trilogy portrays the lived experience of Russia’s assault on Mariupol through the story of 12‑year‑old twins Rada and Dariia Popkova, and how this invasion turned their lives upside down when the first bombs fell on Mariupol. In her review, Myra Junyk discusses the book’s portrayal of the collapse of civilian life, the separation of families, and the documented abduction and “re‑education” of Ukrainian children in russian filtration campsKidnapped from Ukraine: Under Attack is the first in the series and tells the story of Dariia and her mother, who are out shopping when their apartment is bombed. In the ensuing chaos, they are separated from Rada and the twins' father, and Dariia ends up abducted and "adopted" by a russian family. Grounded in real events and supported by an Author’s Note and historical Q&A, the novel offers younger and adult readers a clear, accessible account of the real-life difficulties and dangers of civilians caught up in this unprovoked war. Reviewed by Myra Junyk for Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio.Full transcript here.Book here.

Award‑winning Canadian author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch returns to discuss her newly completed Kidnapped From Ukraine trilogy, set in Mariupol and grounded in the lived realities of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Her work continues to illuminate the human cost of this war for young readers at a time when few authors are writing into this space.This follow‑up conversation builds on last year’s Nash Holos interview discussing the first book in her trilogy. In this conversation, we discuss how she wove real‑world events into the storylines and how those events impacted her personally as well as professionally through the craft of writing the books.For the transcript of this interview, visit the Nash Holos blog.You can find our previous conversation — with the full transcript and embedded player — on the Nash Holos blog here.