Drinking Culture

In Podolia, people don't sip vodka slowly from a large glass. They drink it ice-cold and in one go, from small glasses that hold barely fifty milliliters. Before every glass comes a toast. The first almost always honors the health of everyone present, often with a brief, serious moment of eye contact around the table.

The Ukrainian word for this first toast is often simply 'Budmo.' It translates roughly as 'let us be,' a short shared moment before drinking.

This goes hand in hand with sakuska, small bites served before, between, and after each glass. Their job is to keep the alcohol from hitting too hard. Classics include pickled cucumbers and dark bread. In Podolia especially, paper-thin slices of salo, cured pork fat, are a fixture on the table.

One firm rule in many Ukrainian families concerns clinking glasses. When drinking to someone who has died, the glasses don't clink. People drink in silence and often set the glass down afterward without another toast. On every other occasion, though, glasses are clinked freely, round after round, until the evening winds down.

Hospitality is inseparable from all of this. A guest rarely turns down the first glass. A host who doesn't press guests to refill would be seen as impolite. Drinking happens in company, rarely alone, and rarely without a piece of bread or salo close at hand.

Celebrations like weddings or name-day parties often bring several such rounds in a single evening. Each round has its own toast—to family, to the hosts, to the future. And it's always drunk from the ice-cold glass.