«Vegetables from Mykolaiv, cereals and meat from Kharkiv»: journalists showed how a field kitchen in Kherson works under shelling

Chef Mykhailo cooks in the field kitchen of Kherson, photo: Ivan Antypenko

In Kherson, pensioners who were unable to leave the front-line city are fed daily for free by the charity fund's field kitchen.

Journalists of The Ukrainians in the special project «Country of the Responsible» showed how cooks work.

Despite the deoccupation of the city in 2022, Kherson is shelled daily by the Russian army from the occupied Left Bank. A significant number of people left the city. Journalists say that young people stay there only if there is a job, so most of Kherson's population is elderly people.

The field kitchen was founded by the Kharkiv charity foundation, 20 people work there, and they feed everyone who comes to them. They mostly bake bread and deliver hot lunches around the city. Vegetables are brought to the kitchen from Mykolaiv, cereals and meat from Kharkiv.

Cooking dinner in the field kitchen of Kherson, photo: Ivan Antypenko

Cooking dinner in the field kitchen of Kherson, photo: Ivan Antypenko

The cooks there are themselves from Kherson who have lost their jobs. The workers jokingly say that they are waiting for the soon release of the Left Bank so that they can go to work there as well.

«We have not left and we are not going to. We held and continue to defend our Khersonchyk. We are also going to the left one — we hope that it will be soon. The boys will kick them out, and we collect the bags and go there with the field kitchen,» says the Kherson woman.

People gather in groups waiting for the distribution of hot lunches, photo: Ivan Antypenko

The foundation prepares about one and a half thousand portions per day. There are not enough containers for everyone, so porridge and soups are brought to the yards in large plastic banyaks and poured into the containers of grandparents. However, in the areas that are under constant fire from the Russians — Korabel and Ostriv neighborhoods — food is brought immediately in packed containers to be distributed as soon as possible.

We will remind you that during the active hostilities at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, when Mykolaiv suffered from shelling by the Russian army, the world-famous organization World Central Kitchen started working in the city.

4,200 servings of free lunches per day were prepared by the cooks of the organization.

The company was founded by Spanish-American chef Jose Andres. In June 2022, the star chef and friend of Joe Biden personally came to Mykolaiv.