Kyiv, Ukraine | A chef has decided to contribute to the war effort by serving Meals for the Ukrainian soldiers present on the battlefield. This has been the case since the conflict began in February 2022 700,000 meals served.
The description on his Instagram profile says almost everything about him: “Boss. CEO. volunteer. Drunkard.” Four words that alone sum up the personality of Zhenya Mykhailenko, although the fourth is left to her discretion.
The fact remains that the man who calls himself Chief Zhenya, at 37, is one of those everyday heroes taking part in the Ukrainian war effort.
His weapon is a kitchen knife; his ammunition, the numerous donations in kind the multi-hatted chef raises through the charity fund he founded with his wife, the Magic Food Army.
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“I woke up one morning, my wife was crying because Kiev had just been bombed again. When you wake up like that, you have to make a quick decision… At the end of the day we’ve already served food to the police,” recalls the head of the company foodvsmarketing. . net, which operates six ramen restaurants and a café in the united in the Ukrainian capital.
The idea of serving meals to improve the lives of the soldiers and promote the resistance was born then.
Birth of the Magic Food Army
“We started cooking for the armed forces during the Battle of Kiev in March 2022. At that time we cooked for two and a half battalions, we served them three meals a day. We had a big kitchen in a bunker and we cooked 24 hours a day,” explains chef Zhenya in impeccable English, recalling his six years in kitchens in Los Angeles.
“And then in May we moved to Zaporijia, near the front line. We started with a food truck. It was used for mobile operations. We fed 300 soldiers in 150 minutes. We moved the truck, we drove to where the soldiers were, we prepared and served 300 food rations.”
For almost 12 months we have cooked HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS MEALS for our soldiers…literally at least 700,000 of them or almost 400,000 of which were cooked before summer last year. We have a problem. Admit it and move on… pic.twitter.com/aglgb8IvRJ
— Chef Zhenya (@chefzhenya) January 25, 2023
Since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, the Magic Food Army has served nearly 700,000 meals to Ukrainian soldiers.
And be careful, we’re not talking tasteless dishes just good enough to fill your stomach. No, these are dishes cooked with love “just like at home”.
Pancakes, salad and chowder
“Our meals are based on donations in kind that we collect from major retailers or farmers. For example, some pork producers in Lviv send us cuts directly, which we prepare. We also buy food with the money we get,” explains the tall guy with his arms tattooed by his companion Mariia.
Tattoos that also stick to the character: on the right arm, a kitchen knife and tables for converting units of volume (reminiscent of his stay in the US, where he was forced to switch from one system to another); on the left arm the plants he likes to cook with: ginger, thyme, onions, etc. And even his favorite TV show on the calf…
Photo courtesy of Mariia Mykhailenko
And what exactly does the standard menu prepared for the soldiers look like?
For lunch, chef Zhenya relies on something that reminds her of the warmth of home: pancakes, fruit salad, cottage cheese, or yogurt with assorted berries. As well as the usual fruit juices, coffee and biscuits.
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“Once or twice a week we make them sausages and potatoes. That’s the special menu the day after the day before,” he summarizes with a laugh.
At lunchtime we stick to the classic: soup and salad or soup and sandwich.
“I also sometimes make ‘military soup,’ which is a bit like clam chowder. It’s one of my favorite soups.
Everything is prepared thanks to the support of many volunteers as well as the help of soldiers who come to help directly in the kitchen.
And then ?
Remaining confident that the war will continue, chef Zhenya has created accommodation for volunteers arriving from abroad above one of his restaurants. At this site under development, he collects Russian relics that are collected on the battlefield and displayed as hunting trophies.
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There are remains of grenades, helmets, a rocket launcher… and many Russian uniforms.
“Uniforms? I’ll put them on mannequins for the people who sleep here to play darts on,” he jokes.
“Russia is going nowhere. And we’re not going anywhere either. But we will keep fighting as long as we want to stay alive. Resistance is in danger of becoming our way of life,” he finally admits fatalistically.
“But I hope to be able to make a difference with my charity fund and my business myself. I would like to improve the nutrition of the Bundeswehr in the long term, but the laws have to change for that. I think I’m the right person for it.”
This report was produced with the financial support of the Fonds québécois en journalisme international.
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