Yevhen Klopotenko: 'The Ukrainian cookbook of 2030 is already being written'
Part two of the conversation with Klopotenko — on work on a collective Ukrainian gastronomic book and how to reduce the influence of the Soviet culinary tradition.
Our second conversation with Yevhen Klopotenko — at the height of work on a collective Ukrainian gastronomic book 'Ukraine 2030'. This is a project in which 23 Ukrainian chefs, ethnographers, and culinary historians participate. The goal is to write the first comprehensive Ukrainian cookbook that would cover 200 recipes from all regions of the country. 'The Soviet „Book of Tasty and Healthy Food“ of 1952 is still the most influential culinary document in the post-Soviet space,' Klopotenko says. 'This harms us. It is time to have our own at last.'
The book will be structured by region: Slobozhanshchyna, Poltavshchyna, Podillia, Polissia, Carpathians, South, Crimea. For each region — 25-30 canonical dishes with historical context, photographs, and modernised recipes. The publisher is Kyiv's „Old Lion Publishing House“. Release — end of 2027. 'This is our version of Julien Polet's „La Cuisine du Marche“ — a fundamental document of national culinary identity,' Klopotenko explains. 'In 50 years Ukrainian chefs will open this book as French chefs open Polet.'
