25 november

Although many Americans may think of Ukraine as a developing country, which it is (although hopefully every country is developing, so it’s hard to tell what this descriptor really indicates), it is totally inaccurate to think of Ukraine as “behind” the US.

I’m not launching into a big thing here, although I’ll briefly mention that there’s (more or less) nationwide cell phone service offered by a variety of service providers, pretty good internet available almost everywhere (I had a mobile modem), and generally most of what you would expect to find in the US.

Two relatively small things instead: organic food and reusable bags.

Ukrainians are huge on natural, chemical-free food. If it came from your garden, your neighbor’s garden, your cousin’s friend’s sister’s cow, great. If not, beware. Long-lasting flavor through preservatives? Nope, freshness! Beautiful appearance? Nope, natural goodness! The organic food movement, a current rage in the US, is not a movement in Ukraine. Instead, it’s simply what people believe. Food must be natural and you should know where it comes from. If you know where it came from, it’s good for you. End.

Recently, businesses in the US have started to consider how to deal with the question of bags, an extra cost and cause of trash. Should customers have to pay for choosing paper or plastic? Should customers receive credit for bringing their own, reusable bags? In Ukraine, you bring your own bag. Small items, like fruits or possibly baked goods, are put in thin plastic bags, but groceries go into reusable bags. In bigger grocery stores, you can buy a plastic bag at the check-out line, but that’s usually a last resort. Simple plastic bags are washed and hung out to dry, being such a valuable commodity. Most Ukrainians have plenty of more sturdy reusable bags at home in varied styles, the standard being zipper-able boxy “baba bags” of woven plastic lace, featuring a plaid design or a picture of puppies, London, or some other vacation destination. There are bag stalls at the bazaar where you can pick up sturdy plastic bags from all kinds of stores without ever setting foot inside. These bags caused me surprise and confusion more than once. When I saw an H&M bag on the street in Lutsk, I was shocked. H&M? How was there an H&M in Lutsk that I didn’t know about after two years of living in the city? Take a breath, it’s just a bag. One of my favorites was the BMW bag in which I received language training materials from Peace Corps. It was a big, sturdy bag, which is probably why they had chosen it. Still, I wondered what BMW normally might be selling in such bags, and if they even knew that their logo was being used to market bags in Ukrainian markets.

Ukraine: leading the way in environmental friendliness and natural health.

The US: catching on.