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Where Pacifism & Terrorism Collide --Find the Tastiest Soup In all the Land

The complex and sordid history of the Doukhobor sect which immigrated to Canada in the late 1800’s brought both an interesting history and delicious cuisine to southern British Columbia.

By Maria CalderoniPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 7 min read
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The most delectable soup in all the land

This post is part of the Vocal Cooks Collaborate series. Click Here for an index of all the recipe posts. The latest recipes are Judy Kalchik's Holy Fierce Salted Caramel Cheesecake, Batman! and Mariann Carroll's Egg Roll Shanghai Robot.

Naked people parading in protest through the city streets to the Nelson, BC courthouse is one of my early mem ories of the Sons of Freedom, the small but radical branch of the Doukhobor community. I remember driving past in 1979 and mom telling all of us to “turn your heads away! There are naked people over there.” Peeking through our fingers, we verified that she was in fact telling the truth! This memory is quickly replaced by resplendent memories of gatherings with peaceful Doukhobor friends and neighbors over delicious borscht, pyrahi and vereniki.

Image from one of many such protests between the early 1900s through the 1970s.

Delectable bowls of borscht

Pyrahi and Vereneki served with melted butter and sour cream

The migration of the Doukhobor people, assisted by Leo Tolstoy and led by Peter (the Lordly) Verigin, in the late 1800’s was the largest mass immigration to Canada. Persecuted in their home country of Russia for their pacifism, among other strong religious beliefs, these vegetarians, known for their strong work ethic and their dedication to communal living, sought freedom and a new life in Saskatchewan and Southern British Columbia.

The Doukhobors had separated from the Orthodox church eschewing icons and symbols and rather embracing the idea that God lived inside every person. They desired to let their lives reveal the living spirit of God. They avoided materialism and government trappings, and preferred an oral history and faith to only reading the Bible which they said was confusing and not enough by itself.

Community homes still standing near Grandforks, BC

After immigrating to Canada, the Doukhobors continued to educate their own children, maintain their mother tongue, live in community, and follow their faith. The word Doukhobor, originally dubbed on the sect as an insult, means "Spirit Wrestler." The intended meaning was that they were wrestling against the Holy Spirit. The Dukhobors however embraced this moniker believing that in fact the very purpose of their lives was to wrestle in the spirit. Thus the Spirit Wrestlers continue to this day more than 20,000 strong in southern British Columbia and are rarely even heard of or known about, both within Canada and throughout the rest of the world.

I grew up hearing the stories and noting the landmarks of the various bombings and burnings. While the Doukhobors embodied pacifism, their fanatical brothers, the Sons of Freedom, (also called Freedomites) made the whole group look bad as they donned their pureuniforms (no clothes, because clothing represented the impurity of human materialism) and exploded bridges and burned schools to the ground. Interestingly, they also devoted a fair amount of time to burning their own homes and community centers and those of their Doukhobor neighbors.

I remember being fascinated by these neighbors and trying to reconcile the fact that most of them were peaceful and safe friends. Unfortunately, not everyone knew who was actually aligned with the Freedomites who often kept this a secret.

My mom had a good friend, Anna, whom we would visit on occasion during the day. Anna would serve us the most delicious vegetarian borscht I have ever tasted. Paired with various vereniki and pyrihi, from her tiny restaurant next door to their Slocan Valley home. But, if evening began to descend, she hurried to rush us out of her home or restaurant before her husband returned. She was a peaceful Doukhobor, and he was not-so-secretly one of the Sons of Freedom.

I will never forget one night when we stayed a little too long. Anna’s husband crashed through the door yelling at her in Russian having seen our car in the driveway. I have no idea what he said, but mom gestured to us to hide behind the end table by the couch. My fearless mother started yelling right back at him and telling him we were just here for a nice visit and to stop yelling at Anna. He returned, in broken English, “Go home. You leave, Now.” and stepped menacingly towards my mom, unbuckling his belt deliberately with each step. She did not back down as Anna quickly cleared things off the table, likely anticipating what would come next. Sure enough he started banging things on the table and then continued to remove his belt dropping it on the floor. I was relieved, imagining he was going to hit us with it, but in the Freedomite tradition he was simply preparing to get naked, I assume to make us want to leave. It worked. After Anna assured mom that she would be ok, we headed to the car with him standing in the doorway unbuttoning his pants and shirt.

The next time mom went to see Anna, she took my dad and left us kids home.

We had many good friends within the Doukhobor community and I learned to know more about both their rich history and their delectable food. The tenets that most of them still held firmly to were:

  • pacifism,
  • faith,
  • vegetarianism,
  • hard work,
  • community,
  • and they all taught their children to speak Russian.

The small group of Freedomites that mingled within the group stirring up trouble were no longer welcome and by the time I was old enough to have close friends among the Doukhobors, most of them had either recanted, or left to start their own smaller communities. There are two known groups still residing in the area but it has been several decades since they have actively bombed anything or paraded through the streets naked.

It would take a separate article to detail many of the historical events that the Doukhobor people endured in their migration to Canada and their evolution as a people group. They are wonderful citizens and have assimilated into the Canadian culture while maintaining their own distinct culture and beliefs. It was a hard won battle to get to where they are today with struggle imposed both from their Sons of Freedom brothers and from the Canadian government's lack of understanding of the difference between the two groups.

Doukhobor Wedding

I was 14 the first time I was invited to a Doukhobor wedding. Not only was I invited to the wedding but I was honored to be asked to the work party the day prior, where the women prepared all the food to be served at the reception. This was the day I learned how to make my favorite foods the right way! I was fascinated as I watched the women slice the cabbage by hand into paper thin strips. "You must slice by hand," I was instructed firmly, "there is no slicer that can slice cabbage thin enough to make perfect borscht."

Doukhobor Borscht is unlike any other kind of borscht I have ever tasted, and I have had many. It has some similar components like beets, and dill and potatoes but the unique ingredient combinations and the specific technique of combining them makes this the most revered soup in my household.

Doukhobor Borscht

  • 1 head of cabbage sliced as thinly as you possibly can
  • 1 stick of butter plus extra butter at the end
  • 1 large onion sliced thin
  • 32 oz can of whole tomatoes in their juice
  • 6 or 8 potatoes
  • 2-3 carrots
  • 1-2 beets
  • Cauliflower (optional)
  • 1 green pepper sliced paper thin in rounds
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Dill Weed
  • 1 cup or more of heavy whipping cream

The borscht is made in two separate pans which are combined at the end.

Mix 1:

Melt the stick of butter in a large pan or frying pan. Sauté the sliced cabbage and onions until they are wilted and onions are translucent. Add the canned tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.

Mix 2

While the cabbage mixture is cooking, put a large pot of water on to boil adding the peeled potatoes, carrots and beets. Cook until the vegetables are tender. Remove the beets. (I save them to eat separately. You can also keep them in the soup but that is not the traditionally correct recipe.) Then using a potato masher or anything you have on hand, “Mush” the potatoes and carrots into soft bite sized pieces. If adding cauliflower, do so now and cook long enough for it to be soft but not mushy.

When both mixtures are complete, combine them together, and add the heavy cream, stirring gently.

Finish by sprinkling generously with dill weed, and float the thin slices of green pepper on top adding additional butter, salt and pepper as desired.

You will never taste anything in your life as richly delectable as this soup combined with fresh out of the oven buttered white bread and a dollop of sour cream.

Thank you for joining me in this taste and history journey down memory lane.

history
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About the Creator

Maria Calderoni

Born a lover of stories. I love to read, write and tell them. Tales of inspiration, resilience and struggle.

A life long learner, I enjoy nothing more than sharing interesting and useful things I have learned so far.

Please join me.

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  • Ashley Thompson6 months ago

    Hi Maria. This first image you've used of the borscht is one of mine. It's been used without permission or credit. Please remove this image.

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