FEEDING THE FRONTLINE

FROM PREPARING MEALS FOR JUDGES, ONE CHEF NOW MAKES BORSCHT FOR UKRAINIAN TROOPS INSTEAD

- MARIA VARENIKOVA / NYT

Cooking for Ukrainian troops on the front line is not easy.

Recently, a Russian strike blew out the windows and the glass door of the oven in a kitchen on a military base in eastern Ukraine. Pvt Yaroslav Breus and his team quickly replaced the door and resumed cooking.

“Considering where we are now, this meal might be the last one,” Breus said as he prepared pork steaks fried in batter and borscht for several hundred soldiers, surrounded by steaming cauldrons and sizzling pans.

Also on the menu: beetroot salad sprinkled with roasted walnuts and boiled potatoes with melted butter topped with parsley.

Even as they battle relentless Russian assaults under harsh conditions, the soldiers of his unit, the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Assault Brigade, can consider themselves lucky in one respect. They are eating relatively well.

Breus, 31, a former chef from Veranda, a prestigious Kyiv restaurant, once competed on the Ukrainian version of the television show MasterChef, where he wore a distinctive headband and received praise for his borscht.

He now cooks his beet soup almost daily for soldiers in the trenches nearby in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine.

“My favourite dish is when they cook borscht, as it smells like home,” like it was made with ‘mom’s hands,’ said Serhiy, a soldier from the 1st Battalion as he waited for the team to pack up food for him to deliver to his comrades at the front. Like other soldiers, he requested that he be identified by only his first name and call sign, Bison, according to military protocol for members of the Ukrainian military in combat.

A hearty meal is good for morale, Breus said, adding: “I want all the guys to like my food.”