Olga Chausovskaya and her family emigrated from Kiev, Ukraine, in 1989. Her husband is Jewish, and opportunities for employment were limited in their home country. A refugee program helped them relocate to Tucson.
The family readily adapted to the Old Pueblo, and even though their three children are now grown and moved away, Olga and Alex chose to remain in Tucson.
“I love Tucson very much,” Olga said. “It is warm, it is nice, no snow, no hurricanes. It is beautiful. It is my weather. It is just mine! I love it! I love it!”
Although Olga, a gemologist and jewelry maker, found the Southern Arizona climate appealing and the community welcoming, she still longed for a connection to the home she left behind. She was not alone. Realizing other Eastern European and Russian immigrants to Tucson craved the foods they left behind, Olga opened the European Market and Deli in 1999. The first location was about two miles east of the current store and restaurant at 4500 E. Speedway.
Olga still makes jewelry and has a booth at Tucson Convention Center during the annual Gem and Mineral Show, but most of her time is spent at the market. In Kiev, Olga studied economics and worked at and managed several restaurants. That on-the-job training in the food business helps inform her inventory. She also caters to customers’ special requests.
“Lots of people tell me, ‘My grandpa, my grandma make this borscht or kielbasa,’” Olga said. “These people are very excited because they find what they want here.”
European Market and Deli carries an array of fresh smoked meats and sausages, including kabanosy, kielbasy and kishka made from traditional Polish recipes, bologna, salami, ham, bacon and liverwurst. They also carry fish — smoked, dried and frozen — including eel, balyk, paltus, trout, herring, salmon and caviar. Cheeses include: Swiss, Salguni, Manouri, Madrigal, Brinza and Kefalograviera, plus farmer cheese other dairy products.
Shelf after shelf feature varieties of pickled tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other vegetables and sauerkraut; dried soup mixes and European spices and blends such as Vegeta; whole grains; preserves, jams, marmalades and syrups; packaged cakes, pastries, baklava, halva and poppy seed rolls; tea cookies, biscuits and bread rings; and candies by the pound or in gift boxes.
European Market also carries imported beers, wines and hard liquors.
For those who want a taste of the old country without turning on the stove, customers can order from the deli menu where many of the dishes use products sold in the market.
