Stability for ourselves, well-being for others. What did we eat?

“Whenever sociologists are being asked to describe how exactly did society change over the past decade, the first reaction is actually bafflement,” says Tymofii Brik, Rector of the Kyiv School of Economics. “That’s because sociologists study a myriad of parameters: from employment to mental health, from tobacco use to religious affiliation, from political views to pet ownership.” So, what criteria should be used for comparison? 

In this joint project by Reporters and KSE, we’ve attempted to put together a collective image of Ukrainians. Taking into account sociological research, interviews of experts in various fields, and personal observations, the authors of the following pieces analyzed changes in Ukrainians over the past decade, that is, from 2014 to 2024. Changes in attitudes, values, preferences, ways to remember the past, and visions of building the future. 

In the first part of the article, KSE Rector Tymofii Brik reflects on the paradoxical combination of phenomenal proactiveness and lack of social trust among Ukrainians. In this piece, culinary journalist and graduate student in Memory and Public History Studies, Mariia Banko, reflects on the sandwiches from the Maidan and analyzes projects aimed at preserving culinary heritage.

“Whichever way you would enter Maidan Square, you were greeted by a smiling or tired girl who’d ask: “Would you like a sandwich? How about some hot tea?” Whatever was happening around, the tea and sandwiches were like communion. You’d take communion and go work with everyone else. Food always unites people. During the Maidan protests, food on the Maidan Square was part of the initiation,” recalls one of the Maidan activists, Yuliia Ohorodnyk.

Sandwiches, hot tea, kulish [millet-and-meat porridge — Ed.], and borscht cooked in large stew-pots are gastronomical experiences that are often mentioned in recollections of the Revolution of Dignity participants. Yet, the first thing that’s mentioned is not the taste of food but rather the experience of cooking and eating, the experience of community, and the collective effort behind it.

People were constantly bringing groceries to the hastily set up field kitchens and tent camps. But what might have been chaos turned into an effective operation: participants quickly learned to work together for the good of the cause.

Oleksandr Zakletskyi, a photographer, a journalist, and now a soldier, recalls how an elderly woman approached him on Maidan Square. She didn’t have the strength or stamina to join in the protests, but she wanted to do at least something. So, she just brought a pot of boiled potatoes with onions. He says that right there, he clearly felt “the breath of God”: if God is love, then for him, these people with sandwiches in one hand and Molotov cocktails in the other were the embodiment of this Love.

Following the victory of the Maidan protests, Ukrainians managed to preserve this experience of freedom and lateral organizational structure. This experience saw food become a medium of mutual support, unity, and love, not an instrument of coercion or control like it was in the Soviet Union era.

Over the following few years, there have been many changes, but the idea of food that unites will be a cornerstone for various communities in Ukrainian society: restaurateurs and volunteers, scientists and chefs. 

Tips for soldiers, not servers

Of course, the restaurant landscape of Ukraine before the Maidan was not a barren desert. There were large food chains like “Kozyrna Karta” (“Trump card”) and “Svitova Karta” (“World Map”). Eric Aigner managed to create a dozen popular eateries under the Eric’s Family company, which eventually spawned the chain “Liubov and Golod” (“Love and Hunger”). Both McDonald’s and “Puzata Hata” (“Pot-bellied cottage”) have already become a staple.

By then, “The Kryivka” (“The Hideout”) in Lviv has been welcomi