CLEVELAND — Chef Brandon Chrostowski, founder and president of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute in Shaker Square, spent about a week in Ukraine, bringing with him supplies and the hope to help those impacted by war.
Before he left, Chrostwoski sat down with 3News’ Isabel Lawrence, showing her the pounds of seeds he would bring to an impacted village, quilts to drop off for children, as well as medical supplies. Upon his return, Isabel Lawrence again met with him to learn about how his trip went.
“The journey was powerful, to say the least,” Chrostowski said. “It was sad, but good.”
Chrostwoski’s first stop was in Lviv, where he worked alongside famous Ukrainian chef Ievgen Klopotenko to serve those displaced by the war.
“We ended up preparing food for about 300 displaced men and women, and then went to deliver that, which was a big ordeal,” Chrostowski said.
The next day, he visited a different community to drop off medical supplies at a hospital and orphanage facility. There, he met a chef who cooked for 80 orphans daily, working in a facility where the windows were sandbagged in preparation for potential blasts.
“It’s just this unusual kitchen, it was small but versatile, and it was just feeding these kids, which I thought was super beautiful,” he said.
Afterwards, he visited a soldier’s hospital, where he met another chef who cooked for those fighting, baking cakes for frontline soldiers on their birthdays. He delivered the seeds, and headed to Kyiv, where he worked in Klopotenko’s restaurant kitchen with other Ukrainian chefs, cooking borscht, the national dish.
“Still, a couple days later, I still feel emotional about the feeling of safety,” he said. Chrostowski said one of his takeaways from his time in Ukraine was the importance of people feeling safe, and being able to breathe freely without the fear that something may happen.
Chrostowski described streetlights not working in Lviv because of efforts to conserve energy, the constant running of generators, and the sound of air raid sirens.
“It’s visually seeing sandbags, or the hedgehogs, you know, those metal things that stop tanks,” he said. “Then you start talking to people and they’re like, ‘well you know, my father or my boyfriend or someone is in the frontlines.’ It’s always around you.”
Chrostowski also noted the bravery of the men and women he met, continuing to live their lives through war, some fighting on the frontlines, and others, waging war in the kitchen.
“Chefs are fighting with food,” he said. “The power of food is on display right now. It’s feeding people’s souls, it’s feeding their spirit, it’s standing up for their culture. Now more than ever, the most powerful place of food is in Ukraine.”
Chrostowski said he plans to host a fundraiser to help raise money for Ukraine, and share the traditional Ukrainian dishes he learned how to cook on his trip.