The food influencer doughing what she can to help Ukrainians

Why would anyone fly into a war zone, putting their own life at risk to help others?

The London-based journalist and Instagram food influencer Felicity Spector has done just that, recently returning from Ukraine where she was bringing bread to the people. Her reason? Her Jewish family’s history.

Known by more than 109,000 followers on Instagram for sharing her restaurant, café and bakery finds and home bakes, the gastronome says she felt drawn to help the charity Bake for Ukraine because of her roots there.

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Felicity Spector's bread being cut up to eat (Photo: Oleksander Baron)

“My late father’s parents were from Dnipro and came to the UK in the early 1900s,” she says.

This was her second trip to Ukraine. Her first was last October. “It was after I read about a bakery in Kyiv that had its warehouse destroyed by a Russian rocket attack.

“I knew people around the world [through her Instagram community] who could donate as they had equipment lying around.”

She put the request out there, and within a couple of days had all the kit the bakery needed, from huge spiral mixers to professional sheeters — used to roll out large amounts of dough.

She arranged, via another charity, to send the equipment out and the experience left her wanting to do more. On her visit she was physically able to help other charities and meet Bake for Ukraine founder Maria Kalenska.

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The bread being kneaded (Photo: Oleksander Baron)

Spector explains that bread is at the heart of Ukrainian food culture as well at its economy — with the country providing 7 to 12 per cent of the world’s wheat supply, it is known as the bread basket of Europe and its blue and yellow flag symbolises the sky and a wheat field.

But now, with many bakeries destroyed and the remaining ones struggling with supply issues and black-outs, Bake for Ukraine was formed to send regular donations to help keep some of them baking and others to replace equipment.

It also meant they could donate bread to those struggling to who’d fled occupation or lost their farms or jobs.

Last month, Spector flew out to help put in place a huge mobile bakery trailer.

“The Swiss army had about 1,000 of them produced about 30 years ago. Some were donated to Ukraine, but most aren’t in good working order.

"They’re big enough to mix, prove and bake the bread in and you can connect it to a generator so it’s self-sufficient.”

After a long search, they found one in Izmail, near Odesa, in good enough working order and arranged for it to be transported to Odesa to begin its new life.

“The idea is that it can be a fantastic resource to areas that have not had fresh bread for a long time.”

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Felicity (second left) with her team (Photo: Oleksander Baron)

So, they planned to get the trailer back to full working order, and then send it into areas without power to bake bread for the locals, or to villages without infrastructure — “Like the de-occupied territories that have been cut off for a long time.”

She had raised the money to pay for the truck and its renovations by crowdfunding via Just Giving and her Instagram account, hoping to raise £5,000 to put towards the total needed. Within days she’d raised almost all the money need — close to £15,000.

“I didn’t think we’d get anything like the full £15,000 … it was absolutely incredible.”

She later discovered restaurant critic Jay Rayner had posted a link to her Just Giving page on his weekly review in The Observer.

In Ukraine Spector visited the truck — which has the capacity to allow bakers to make up to 200 kilograms of dough at a time.

“It can fit three bakers in it comfortably but it does get a bit hot when the oven is on though,” says Spector, who was there for a baking session to test the vintage vehicle.

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Felicity's loaves (Photo: Oleksander Baron)

“The recipe they use keeps well and will last a few days,” she says, explaining that the bread is palyanytsya, a very traditional Ukrainian crusty sourdough bread made with a starter, enriched with butter (or ghee) and milk and raised for several hours.

It’s clear from the droolworthy posts on her Instagram account that despite the raging war, life goes on for many Ukrainians.

She managed to visit restaurants including Israeli-influenced Dizyngoff (in Odesa) and Shalom, where she ate mezze and curd-filled knafeh.

Spector also lent support to some of the bakeries that had kept going throughout the worst of the war.

They included Khatynka bakery in Bucha, which is supported by Bake for Ukraine, and which gives away free bread to the territorial defence unit that protects the area.

The bombed dam meant she was unable to visit Kherson where she’d wanted to deliver money and supplies to a bakery damaged by the flood.

Back home now and she’s looking forward to hearing that the mobile bakery is on the road.

“It’s just waiting for new tyres and a new chassis — the roads there are in a pretty bad state of repair.”

Once the paperwork has been done, it will hopefully head to Odesa before it travels further afield to areas in need of bread.

Instagram: @felicityspector / bake.for.ukraine

Topics:

Food Charity

Food