Themes by tag: food

Before the full-blown invasion outbreak, Andrii Kopytsia was in no way connected with medicine aside from having first aid care certification. The man ran a cafe he started in Zatoka, Odesa Oblast, and never thought first aid course knowledge would ever come in handy. However, on February 26, 2022, Andrii mobilized and went off to war. The soldier joined a unit that needed an army medic.

Later, the soldier was given the “Lifesaving Award” from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After he became a third-time father, Andrii resigned from the service. Andrii’s cafe in Zatoka had to be closed as a result of a Russian munition landing near it. So the man decided to open a new place, this time in Odesa. Andrii put up the money he had earned while he was at war. Later, he applied for a state microgrant program for combatants and won it, but has not yet used the state funds. His “Unbreakable Coffee Shop” has already opened its doors to visitors, and anyone can buy a drink for the military so that they can also support those who are defending the country at the front.

• doctors
• food
• military
• Odesa

Since the beginning russia’s full-scale invasion, the World Central Kitchen team has been working in various cities of Ukraine. Currently, they cook food for people in Kharkiv oblast (in particular, Vovchansk and Kupyansk districts), Chernihiv oblast, Sumy oblast, Kramatorsk, Kherson, Kyiv oblast (Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel, Horenka), Lviv shelters, etc. Despite the danger, the team works in front-line towns: they provide hot meals (the menu is developed by chefs) and food kits.

By prior agreement, journalists are welcome to cover how the team works.

For reference: World Central Kitchen is a non-profit non-governmental organization that provides food to victims of natural disasters and other types of disasters. WCK was founded in 2010 by celebrity chef Jose Andres, who along with his team cooked after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

• casualties
• food
• volunteers

On November 16, Ukraine Media Center Ukrinform will host a briefing on the signing agreements with the World Food Program in Ukraine by the heads of 11 regions to expand the National School Feeding Program. The briefing will focus on the challenges in providing daily meals to primary school students and children receiving social benefits, as well as the role of WFP in providing cooked school meals.

Participants:

– Andriy Stashkiv, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine;

– Matthew Hollingworth, UN World Food Program (WFP) Representative and Country Director in Ukraine;

– Ruslan Kravchenko, Head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration;

– Ihor Taburets, Head of Cherkasy Oblast Military Administration.

For reference: Last academic year, the UN World Food Program funded 50% of hot meals for children in 58 primary schools in Kyiv Oblast for four months. This year, WFP is expanding a cooked school meals program to reach 11 regions. WFP will provide 30% of daily meals for more than 60,000 Ukrainian school-age children.

• children
• food
• Kyiv

The idea of an oven on wheels to cook pizza in it came to Vitaliy at the beginning of 2023. He saw a version of an oven on wheels in the form of a trailer attached to a bus, and it is completely mobile. To implement his plan, Vitaliy bought an old bus, took his time to repair it and finally turned it into a vehicle that can ride around the entire front line and feed the soldiers with pizza, just like the pizza chef dreams. First, Vitaliy plans to try to cook pizza in Kyiv region in military hospitals, and later to go to the front line.

• food
• volunteers

Before the Big War, Olena Kravchenko organized concerts in her native village in Poltava region. But since February 24, 2022, the woman has turned her organizational skills to volunteering. At first, Olena collected products for the territorial defense fighters of the region. In a few days, there was so much food that she could send several buses with supplies to the military.

Currently, Olena’s work resulted in food being collected in more than 10 villages of the community. Olena’s sister used to take products to the front line herself. Now it’s Kravchenko who has got behind the wheel and visits the military almost every week. Olena brings dried borscht and grain products, which it is convenient for the army men to take on missions, and those celebrating their birthdays get home-made cakes.

• food
• volunteers
• Poltava

Before the full-scale enemy invasion, Oleksii, who went by the nickname “Yogurt” in the army, organized festivals and gastronomic tours and participated in a famous Ukraine cooking show. After the Russian army invaded Ukraine, the man entered active duty service. He took up the food reform in the anti-aircraft missile artillery division of the 47th Mechanized Brigade ‘Magura,’ raising funds and setting up a food truck. It’s a vehicle equipped to cook that isn’t tied to one specific location and can quickly change a place of stay. Oleksii dreams that the General Staff will find out about his project, replace the military kitchen with a mobile field one, and display the food truck at the Victory Day parade.

Currently, Oleksii is in active service on the front line. The soldier is ready to give an interview online and offline by prior arrangement. 

• food
• military

To commemorate the Earth Overshoot Day, “Let’s do it Ukraine” invites media representatives, opinion leaders and volunteers to join the Good Kitchen, an environmentally friendly cookhouse on August 18, 2023 to make and deliver hot meals for IDPs and the Ukrainians affected by the war.

During the event, each of the participants can personally become a charity kitchen volunteer and prepare dinners for residents of the affected areas of Mykolaiv region.

Transfer services from Kyiv to Mykolaiv and back will be provided for journalists.

Accreditation required.

• casualties
• ecology
• food
• Mykolaiv

Larysa Bozhenko, the starosta (headman) of Orlove village in the Kherson region, lived under Russia control for three weeks. After her village was liberated from the invaders, she was offered to join the army ranks. Larysa decided that if serving as a cook, she would be able to repay the Ukrainian defenders for liberating her home from the enemy.

In addition, the 7th Arei Battalion was being formed at that time, and it has now become Larysa’s second family. One of Larysa’s brothers serves in the Arei. Another brother is now on the front line in another battalion. Every day, about 400 military members expect Larysa to prepare food for them.

Larysa is ready to give interviews to journalists at her place of service in the Donetsk region. You can also talk to her online.

• food
• military
• occupation
• women

Roman Pelekh, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, makes an old Ukrainian liqueur whose recipe was lost at the beginning of the last century. Before the full-scale invasion, Roman found 90 liters of alcohol called kontabas in an old abandoned hut in Zakarpattia and a notebook with a recipe. The drink’s main ingredient is blackcurrant buds, which are quite tricky to acquire. But Roman managed to resume production of the drink and even improved the recipe. After being wounded at the front and returning to civilian life, the man set up an actual kontabas production in Lviv.

• culture
• food
• military

Frankie and Coen, two well-known restaurant owners from the Netherlands, are visiting Ukraine for the twelfth time with their mobile restaurant. The men treat people with free French fries and snacks. During this trip, they will go around several Ukrainian cities. In particular, the volunteers will travel to Mykolaiv and Kherson to support people affected by the Kakhovka dam collapse. Later on, they will go to Donbas.  

Frankie and Coen also support orphanages and assist other humanitarian organizations in medicines and food package distribution in the frontline area. They also arrange hospital equipment transportation. 

• casualties
• food
• volunteers