sister city seafood
and over 200 years of history between Baltimore and Odesa.
Strolling next to the onion-domed St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church during the 46th annual Baltimore Ukrainian Festival in September, it felt impossible to forget that only 50 days had passed since Russia sent cruise missiles directly into the Transfiguration Cathedral, the primary Orthodox church in Odesa.
Towards the back of the Baltimore church, a small booth displayed several blue and yellow products including a heart shaped magnet, the top half covered in blue black-eyed susans, the Maryland state flower, and the bottom half in yellow sunflowers, Ukraine’s national symbol of resistance. The merchandise was a reminder that Baltimore and Odesa have been Sister Cities since 1975, first drawn together by the industrial importance of their ports.
What is a Sister City?
The Sister City program was launched by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, which envisioned a network that would be a champion for peace and prosperity during the Cold War. The goal was to foster bonds between people from different communities around the world.
In September 1975, dignitaries from Odesa visited Baltimore’s port facilities and attended an Orioles baseball game before the two cities signed an agreement to share cultural and educational resources and embark on people-to-people exchange programs. A partnership that was reinvigorated by a cultural exchange trip to Odesa in August 2021.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Baltimore-Odesa Sister City Committee (BOSCC) has organized several efforts to support Ukraine. The Committee was influential in the Maryland Governor's office providing $5 million in aid in 2022 and helped make connections that launched the ongoing World Central Kitchen campaign.
On the ground in Odesa BOSCC has also supported smaller, people-to-people projects as well. In one example from 2022, The Committee funded a seamstress in Odesa who retrofit her wedding gown shop so that she could alter volunteer battalions pilots’ uniforms to include flame retardant materials. This year, the $3,000 raised from the Ukrainian American Festival will be used to help replace a fire truck that was destroyed during a rescue mission this summer.
How Did These Cities Come Together?
Odesa has historically focused their Sister City partnerships on port cities. So Baltimore, which has had an active port since it began exporting tobacco and sugar in 1706, was a perfect match.
Later that century in 1794, the Russian Imperial Army commandeered the existing Turkish port of Khadzhibei on the Black Sea. When Empress Catherine took power, she named the city Odesa after the Greek god of wisdom and put a Spanish naval commander from Naples, José de Ribas, in charge of the city’s development into a commercial and shipping hub.
By 1815 the port of Odesa was already handling more than half of all the freight passing through the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. It quickly became a key exporter of grain for much of the world.
Today, both cities have a traffic capacity of around 40 million tons of international cargo annually. Almost 33 tons of grain were exported from Ukraine during the 12 month deal brokered with Russia in July 2022. Since Russia pulled out of the deal in July 2023, its attacks on Ukraine have damaged or partially destroyed 105 port infrastructure facilities.
How Did Italian Architectural Design Influence These Cities?
In the three years that Neapolitan José de Ribas served Odesa, he designed much of the Italianate city center and brought numerous other Italians to this rapidly developing port city.
In 1808 another Neapolitan, Francesco Frapolli, designed the Transfiguration Cathedral and in 1809 the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater. However, much of the city’s neoclassical architecture is owed to a second Francesco, Francesco Boffo, who served as chief architect of the municipality of Odesa from 1822 to 1844.
During Boffo’s last years in Odesa, the first Italians were arriving in Baltimore. Almost immediately after Italian immigrants arrived, the 3-story, cornice capped Italianate row home started appearing in Baltimore. The style dominated residential development from 1850 to 1890 making it the most common style of row house in Baltimore to this day.
Since the ongoing targeted airstrikes began in Odesa this summer Italy has vowed to bring its experience and resources to help with restoration efforts. At least 25 historical buildings including 9 in the UNESCO protection zone have been damaged.
The destruction includes the Vorontsov Palace designed by Francesco Boffo and the Transfiguration Cathedral designed by Francesco Frapolli. The Cathedral was destroyed once before by the Soviet regime and replaced with a Stalin monument in 1936. It was restored in 2010 before being bombed by Russia on July 23, 2023.
How Has Jewish Food Influenced These Cities’ Local Cuisines?
Jewish immigrants started arriving in large numbers to Baltimore at the beginning of the 19th century, around the time Odesa was building itself into a critical international port. By the start of the 20th century, 30% of Odessans and just under 10% of Baltimoreans were Jewish.
Regardless of religious affiliation today, you will find Jewish food everywhere in Odesa. The unofficial dish of the city is forshmak, a herring and apple pâté served with black bread. In My Odesa Cuisine restauranter Savva Libkin notes that forshmak is “this undoubtedly Jewish snack that has long gone beyond the borders of Jewish cuisine.” Olena Bohdonava’s Ukrainian Cuisine: Our Dishes with Soul includes a deconstructed forshmak chopped salad, speaking to the dish’s popularity.
Gefilte fish, a cold ground fish appetizer, and tzimmes, a side dish made with sweet root vegetables, are other Jewish dishes common at the Odessan table.
Baltimoreans have their own ground fish snack called coddies, a deep-fried patty filled with ground cod and potatoes. Although the origins of the dish are disputed, they were popularized when Jewish merchant Louis Cohen started selling the savory snack at his ice cream stand in 1910.
Corned Beef Row, a string of delis in a historically Jewish part of downtown Baltimore, was started by two Ukrainian immigrants newly in love. At just 20 years old, Harry Attman arrived from Kusmien, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, in 1910 and opened a shop selling produce and corned beef sandwiches in 1915, the same year his future wife Ida came from Pidvolochysk, Ternopilska Oblast. Today Attman’s is the oldest continuously family-owned deli in the United States.
All across Ukraine the danger and destruction of war are leaving families with no access to food, especially in rural areas. In 2022, BOSCC raised funds at the ‘Bmore Ukraine’ Festival which enabled them to provide a vehicle for an Odessan food pantry to make delivery to rural areas of the oblast cut off from other aid efforts.
During a time when continued financial support from allied governments for Ukraine is in question, the types of exchanges and support fostered by smaller organizations like the Baltimore-Odessa Sister City Committee become increasingly important. The Committee accepts direct donations, the full amount of which will be used for humanitarian aid to citizens of Odesa, Ukraine, and for displaced Ukrainians in Baltimore.
forshmak salad
This is a deconstructed salad version of forshmak adapted from Olena Bohdonava’s Ukrainian Cuisine: Our Dishes with Soul. Traditionally, you would pulse these ingredients in a blender or food processor until they form a rough pâté and create a balanced blend of tart apples and strong herring. The key to this salad is dicing everything similar size so you can get all the flavors in one bite.
what you need
2 hard boiled eggs, diced◾2 cups smoked herring in oil, diced ◾1 granny smith apple, diced ◾ 1/4 red onion, diced ◾ 1 bunch green onions, roughly 1 cup chopped and loosely packed ◾ 2 tablespoons unrefined sunflower oil◾1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar◾1/2 teaspoon honey
what to do
In a small saucepan, cover eggs with an inch of water and bring to a boil. Continue at a low boil for 6-8 minutes. Drain immediately and submerge eggs in a large bowl of ice water to cool.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together sunflower oil, vinegar and honey to make dressing. Set aside.
Dice herring and apple into 1/2-inch pieces and place in a large bowl. Dice red onion into 1/4-inch pieces and chop green onions, adding to bowl when complete.
Peel eggs and dice into 1/2-inch pieces. Add eggs and dressing to the bowl, gently folding ingredients together until combined.
(If making pâté instead of salad: add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and pulse until combined into a smooth paste.)
Serve with dark rye toast.
Reading - We Are Never Meeting In Real Life: Essays by Samantha Irby (2017) which is giving me equal parts Chicago giggles and homesickness.
Listening - Birth of a Ghost by Omar Rodríguez-López (2017) which is a prog rock classical fever dream recorded in a Baltimore church accompanied by With Lions.
Snacking - on candied strawberries from the divine Dipasquale’s Italian Market in Baltimore.
Watching - Theater Camp by Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman (2023) which confirms that the female cast of The Bear have been watching a lot of Christopher Guest films.
Smelling - a strange blend of LUSH bath bombs and vape pens trapped in a subway tunnel entitled, the scent of a commuter’s life.
What is your favorite seafood snack?
Where’s the place you’ve never lived, but feels like home?
[whatever you wanna tell me!]
Does your town have a sister city? Should we go there?
How are your sisters doing?
I’m originally from Baltimore. Your writing took me down memory lane. I remember all of those festivals by the harbor before Harbor Place. I went to high school with Stuart Attman. My family and I had dinner at Jack’s the night of the fire across the street. Baltimore will always be my Charm City. Thank you for reminding me 🪷