Chilly winds and gray days require strong root vegetables and warm clothes. I bundled up and got some beets for Borscht. As it simmered in the pot with lots of garlic and other vegetables, the aroma took me back to other dark and cold times.
My recipe is neither Ukrainian nor Russian. My ex husband and I learned it on A Prairie Home Companion as sung by Robin and Linda Williams. Singing it stimulates the vagus nerve and eating it grounds and warms me as it does anyone, regardless of nationality.
What reliably grounds and warms you? Does it require that you are part of a particular nationality? Ki to Happiness finds comfort free from borders.