Ukrainian vegan cuisine: how volunteers in Uzhhorod organize healthy food for displaced people

Before the full-scale war of the russian federation against Ukraine, the NGO "Every Animal" was mainly engaged in educational projects and actions. Volunteers gave lectures about veganism for educational institutions and businesses, launched the weekly free course "Vegan Express," and organized the "Open Your Eyes" campaign every Sunday, which showed the truth about what happened to animals in various industries. They also talked to passers-by about veganism and traveled around the Ukrainian cities as part of the all-Ukrainian vegan tour. However, in February, the organization had to suspend most projects to respond to new challenges and continue to popularize the ideas of veganism despite the war. In the material, we talk about a vegan kitchen organized by volunteers for immigrants in Uzhhorod.

Food for displaced people

"They give us food, but the place is far away, and it is very difficult to walk for an hour in the heat. Many elderly, disabled, and children are living here. It is possible to buy instant noodles, but we want variety — vegetables and fruits. Unfortunately, we don't have enough money to buy it ourselves," says Oleksiy, who, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, found shelter in Uzhhorod, in the Palace of Children's and Youth Creativity.

Currently, about 200 people who need help and support live here. Uzhhorod schools, sports halls, dormitories, and all other possible premises were also converted into points of temporary shelter for displaced persons.

Only according to official data, about 24 thousand people moved to Uzhhorod. Since the first day of the invasion in the country's smallest regional center, whose population was 115 thousand before the war, a crisis has begun in the real estate market. The demand for vacancies also still exceeds the number of offers. It is because so many people in need of affordable food appeared in the city.

The local government solves this issue by distributing food stamps, but not everyone has the right to receive them. For example, they are not issued to men of the draft age. Also, cafeterias where vouchers can be used and most volunteer organizations usually cannot offer a full meal for people who do not eat animal products.

Among the IDPs, there is a significant percentage of vegetarians and vegans. According to the KIIS study, as of October 2020, 11% of the Ukrainian population do not consume meat, and 2% do not consume any products of animal origin. It is crucial to add that this year Lent began on March 7, just at the time when many were forced to leave their homes.

In addition, according to the WHO, a healthy adult diet should contain fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. Fruits and vegetables should be consumed at least 400 g per day, or five portions. And if traditional free food giveaways often can't handle it, these products are the mainstay of the menu for vegan kitchens. 

Free vegan lunches

A vegan diet can meet the needs of not only those who, for ethical reasons, refused to consume plant-based products. It will suit believers of various faiths and people with lactose intolerance. Thanks to its versatility, the vegan menu is a good choice for a volunteer kitchen.

"With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, we (NGO "Every Animal") began to help displaced animals and later created a new project — Vegan Kitchen of Ukraine. Within its framework, we feed free vegan lunches to displaced people, volunteers, Territorial Defense, and also send vegan products to vegans in the Armed Forces," says Tamara, the founder and head of the public organization "Every Animal."

The first kitchens appeared in those cities where there were volunteers of "Every Animal," and then, more and more people from other cities began to join the initiative. The first were Kyiv, Vinnytsia, and Rivne. Later, Uzhhorod, Odesa, Dnipro, Lutsk, and Ivano-Frankivsk joined.

We will talk about the project's work using the example of the Uzhhorod kitchen, whose work was organized and adjusted by Margo, a resettled vegan and an activist of the organization.

"At the beginning of the war, when I got to Uzhhorod, I dropped out of all processes related to activism. I was just in shock and couldn't do anything. But other activists continued to work and help people and animals. They also founded the "Vegan Kitchen of Ukraine" project. Our activist Benjamin (a vegan from Australia, currently living in Kyiv, was in Uzhhorod during the active hostilities in February-March this year, — ed.) suggested I establish a kitchen in Uzhhorod. I agreed to help."

The first place to distribute lunches was the square near the city philharmonic hall. A week after the work started, one of the volunteers learned that about 200 displaced people needed hot lunches in the Zakarpattia Regional Palace of Children and Youth Creativity. The institution's administration immediately agreed to the volunteers' proposal and allocated a place for distribution. In this way, lunches continued to be distributed in two locations. The schedule remains unchanged: at 2 p.m. daily "at the Philharmonic," 20 people receive portions of vegan food, and the rest is taken to the displaced persons in the Zakarpattia Regional Palace of Children and Youth Creativity.

Volunteer kitchen

In some cities, VKU was able to find partner catering establishments that provided their professional kitchens and equipment for the use of volunteers, or on the basis of establishments with their own staff, they prepare charity dinners. However, there was no such facility in Uzhhorod. All meals are prepared in the kitchens of their own homes or in the kitchen of the local vegan Kyrylo. He provided it for the volunteers' daily use.

Initially, the work of the kitchen consisted of the following stages:

• cooking,
• delivery to distribution points in pots,
• the distribution between people directly at the point of distribution,
• serving in reusable dishes,
• returning all dishes to the kitchen,
• cleaning.

This method was environmentally friendly — almost no plastic waste remained, but there were difficulties with transportation, and washing dishes took a lot of time. Of course, there were also car salons covered in lentil soup. Now, lunches are packed in disposable boxes immediately after preparation and taken to distribution points to increase efficiency and simplify logistics.

During the first month of working in the kitchen, I had to take many unplanned weekends off.

"Unfortunately, within a week of the kitchen's operation in Uzhhorod, all the activists with whom we started it left the city or could not continue to help. So I started looking for volunteers in special Telegram groups. Little by little, we found people, and the kitchen worked more consistently. Currently, we cook from 30 to 100 portions daily and have 57 volunteers in the Uzhhorod coordination chat," Margo says.

Many volunteers joined in the cooking after receiving the lunches themselves. From the start of the project, volunteers printed and spread leaflets around the city with information on where and when you can get a free vegan lunch. Thanks to these postcards, future volunteers were also found. Most of them are IDPs — vegans, vegetarians, and all-eaters. For non-vegans, the project allows them to get acquainted with vegan cooking in practice. Experienced volunteers gladly share recipes and help those who were not previously familiar with the peculiarities of vegan cuisine cooking.

Kristina is a vegan from Uzhhorod. In her spare time, she participates in volunteer activities in childcare, has also become a volunteer at VKU, and helps prepare dinners in her home kitchen. The girl tells why she decided to help in this particular project:

"Many people switch to a plant-based diet, but when they arrive, they are faced with the fact that they actually have no choice, so VKU is a great alternative. It is also a good opportunity to dispel people's idea that plant-based food is tasteless and does not satisfy hunger."

The kitchens' work would be impossible without funding — one lunch costs about UAH 20, and one parcel to the front, which is enough for a couple of weeks, costs UAH 500-600. The organization started raising money through social networks, says Tamara, the head of the project:

"Ukrainian men and women who want to support the initiative and believe we are doing the right thing, donate to our fund. We also received grants from three international foundations. Vegan producers, from whom we make some purchases, give us discounts because they know that we send this food to fighters. Now, the number of donations has slightly decreased. We hope that this is temporary."

"Every animal" reports on its social networks daily about the number of meals it managed to provide to those in need. And donors who have left their contacts after donating on the website receive a monthly expenses report via e-mail.

A healthy diet for displaced people and military

To date, VKU has sent more than 300 parcels to vegans in the Armed Forces and cooked and distributed almost 17,500 free lunches — more than 5,500 in Uzhhorod.

Diana, a vegetarian who was forced to move from Zhytomyr with her family, comes to receive lunches at the distribution point near the Philharmonic. She learned about the project from a leaflet:

"There were such dinners that I immediately wanted a workshop on how to prepare this dish. In fact, I learned a few new dishes for myself, thanks to the kitchen. It's cool."

If mostly vegetarians and vegans come to get lunch in the square near the philharmonic hall, there are only a few people who don't eat meat in the Zakarpattia Regional Palace of Children and Youth Creativity.

Oleksii, an immigrant who was previously unfamiliar with a vegan diet, shared his impressions of the dinners:

"Very tasty, especially soups and soy meat. It is also pleasing that there are fresh vegetables and cabbage salads."

How to start a vegan kitchen?

The first vegan charity kitchen was the Lviv Vegan Kitchen, which inspired the NGO "Every Animal" to create a similar project in other cities.

"We are friends and help each other. "Lviv Vegan Kitchen" is our friends," says Tamara.

The LVC team managed to start a truly large-scale initiative — they created a full-fledged institution where displaced persons can come during the day and have lunch. The menu usually includes the first course, second course, and drinks; the option to order a dessert has recently appeared. All funds go to the further work of the kitchen. Also, LVC sends parcels with vegan products to different parts of Ukraine for military and civilians. However, the number of requests for humanitarian assistance currently exceeds the volunteers' capacity.

So how do you start a volunteer kitchen in your city? You can write to the VKU page and join an already existing kitchen or initiate the creation of one as part of the project. And you can do it yourself, from scratch. To do this, you need:

1. Decide who you want to feed. You can give food to displaced people — then you need to find centers for helping displaced people or their temporary residence places. You can also distribute food to territorial defense fighters or elderly people, etc.
2. Find financing. Make a post on social networks telling why you need money and how and who you can help thanks to donations. Ask your friends and acquaintances to share the post.
3. Find a team. Ask friends if they want to help you or talk about your idea in local volunteer chats. You will need people to make the purchases, prepare the meals, transport them to the distribution point and give them to those who need them.
4. Develop a menu. Come up with a list of simple, budget-friendly, but nutritious meals and calculate how many servings you need to cook and how many ingredients you need. Do not chase the number of portions. The volume can always be increased. Don't forget protein foods and greens 🙂 The recipes cooked by VKU can be viewed here.
5. Try to implement your idea into life. It is practice that will help you develop your own convenient and effective work algorithm.

To coordinate the kitchen's work, it is not even necessary to be in the same city as the volunteers. Margo remotely organizes the work of all other VKU branches:

"Currently, I coordinate kitchens in eight cities. In those cities where I coordinate kitchens remotely, volunteers buy everything themselves, look for where and to whom to distribute food, and figure out what to cook. I only look for volunteers when there are not enough of them, send money for purchases, and send photos of cooked meals and distributions to the VKU SMM teams."

It is crucial to establish communication in chats, make a volunteer work schedule, and arrange the supply of products from benefactors — and then, as the VKU's experience shows, the teams are already self-organizing.