War putting Ukraine’s food culture at risk, cuisine ambassador warns
Apart from the impact on lives and property, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is placing the country’s food culture at risk, the ambassador of Ukrainian cuisine warned.
During a Ukraine Embassy event at The Emerald Hotel in Bangkok, Yurii Kovryzhenko said Ukraine had plentiful food varying from region to region, such as mushrooms in the west and fish in the south.
He said the uniqueness of Ukrainian dishes is “retaining the taste of ingredients and using a few spices such as salt, pepper and garlic”.
“Whether baking or boiling, we always try our best to ensure the taste does not change,” he said.
Kovryzhenko noted that the food culture between Ukraine and Russia is different due to contrasting weather patterns, so Russian food ingredients are not similar to those of Ukraine.
He explained that Ukraine’s cuisine culture began more than 1,000 years ago and its food can be “difficult” to prepare in terms of cooking time and technology.
“For instance, it usually takes 24 hours to cook borscht soup, starting from up to seven hours just to make broth and about two hours for cooking.
“Each household usually cooks about 5-6 litres of borscht soup, refrigerates it overnight and eats it the next day,” he went on to say.
Kovryzhenko said he tasted Thai food at a local restaurant before participating in the embassy event.
“I do not know how to describe it, but I love it!” he declared.
Kovryzhenko dearly hoped the event would enable Thais to get to know more about Ukraine’s food culture and not just the war.
The cuisine ambassador has the distinction of graduating from a number of leading cooking schools in Europe.
He has several world-class awards under his belt – such as the Global Chef Award in 2017, Ambassador of Taste for Global Gastronomy in 2021 and 2022, and Gold Medal Best of Gastronomy in 2021.
