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FeaturesYou are in: Suffolk > Community > Features > Galina Perry - A Ukrainian in Ipswich  Galina Perry - A Ukrainian in IpswichBy Kieran Turner Ipswich is home to a growing population of immigrants, with these numbers set to increase with the recent EU membership of Romania and Bulgaria. But what of the immigrants themselves, what role do they play within our lives, and what do they think of living here, thousands of miles away from their homes and families?  Galina Perry is one such arrival, coming over in 1994 and moving straight to Ipswich. Originally from the Ukraine, she was married to an Englishman but they separated seven years ago. She started the Rasputin Food and Wine store after hearing two Ukrainians discussing the ownership of an Eastern European store. She offered to buy one of the men out and has been running the store on St Matthews Street for two years since moving from smaller premises on Norwich Road. Galina believes the new store is less threatening than the old one, as it is set up more like a supermarket, allowing people to come in and browse, looking at many foods they might never have seen before. The shop fulfils a valuable role for the migrant workers in the town who, as Galina puts it, “miss their home”. So it is a place to pick up favourites from their home countries - soured fish, dumplings and fermented gherkins are just some of the products they sell which are unavailable anywhere else.  The reaction to the shop has been great although the customers are still mainly Eastern European. “70% Polish, 15% other nationalities and 15% local” says Galina, and she believes the recent cheap flight explosion has been responsible for the growth in interest from local people. “Lots of people come in, holding the sticker from a bottle of wine they have had on holiday, and we have to try and match it up”. Galina has hopes for the future as well - saying that many Polish people haven’t really got anywhere to go in the long Suffolk evenings. So she is hoping to open a café in the store, which could become a hub for all of the Eastern Europeans in the town. The store reflects a growing trend in the UK for Eastern European goods, as pubs are selling Polish beer and supermarkets are offering up traditional delicacies like sauerkraut - but Galina, and the customers in her store, turn their noses up at these “pale and weak” imitations.  So the whole story of immigration is not just about people coming here, ‘stealing our jobs’ and so on - it is also a tale of budding entrepreneurs creating services for themselves and widening the cultural landscape of Suffolk. It seems the good people of Ipswich (and Polish, Ukraine and Russia) are responding well, voting with their feet, and aiming to get as traditional a food experience as possible. last updated: 23/04/2008 at 12:32 Have Your SayWhat do you think of the rise in immigration in Suffolk? jonny alden Joe mary Dimitri Shagun Christina Pale You are in: Suffolk > Community > Features > Galina Perry - A Ukrainian in Ipswich |
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