Yevhen KLOPOTENKO
Yevhen Klopotenko was born in an ordinary Ukrainian family that had nothing to do with the culinary world. It is impossible to tell how the fate of young Yevhen would turn out, if his grandmother had not moved to the UK in 1991 and invited him to live with her. There Yevhen discovered a completely new world for himself, starting with a huge selection of groceries in supermarkets, ending with a different food culture. After his stay in Great Britain was over, Yevhen spent some time in Italy, exploring the marvellous Italian cuisine. While there, he came to the realization that cooking, treating food and living should be done in a completely different way from what he was used to in Ukraine.
At the very start of his career, Yevhen worked as a waiter in many restaurants across Germany, the USA and Ukraine. One day, standing there in the middle of a restaurant kitchen and watching chefs at work, young Yevhen was struck by the realization that this was something he wanted to do. He started to learn how to make food on his own. At first, it was all fun and games: Yevhen and his friends created the CookWars cooking competition, which later grew into an actual evening show in one of the Kyiv restaurants. Around that time, Yevhen also met Denys, who later became the co-creator of the Confiture Gastroshop. The goal of the workshop was to make regular food more delicious.
Next was MasterChef Ukraine. Winning in this show was a crucial step in Yevhen’s life, as it gave him the means to implement much larger projects. This victory enabled him to reach new professional heights by studying at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris.
Yevhen’s two main aspirations are to improve the food culture in Ukraine and to strengthen the position of Ukrainian cuisine in the world. All his projects are aimed at this.
In 2016 Yevhen launched a project called Cult Food, in the framework of which he is engaged in the improvement of nutrition in Ukrainian educational establishments and reformation of the professional culinary education system.
In 2018 Yevhen wrote a meal manual with 110 brand-new recipes for school canteens. This manual has been adopted at the government level. As of the beginning of 2020, more than 5000 schools all over the country were following this comprehensive meal manual.
Yevhen’s proactive approach enabled him to elevate the issue of school meals to the state level. During 2020-2021, the legislation regulating food service provided to children in educational establishments underwent drastic changes: government adopted updated sanitary regulations, procedures, and forms for catering in educational institutions developed updated guidelines for procurement, actively allocated funds to re-equip canteens and implement HACCP. As a part of a working group, Yevhen and the Cult Food team developed a balanced and modern four-week meal plan for school canteens.
On September 1, 2021, all kindergartens and schools in Ukraine switched to new food standards and norms.
Additionally, in 2020, Yevhen signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, becoming an ambassador for the reform of professional education. Currently, Yevhen works on reforming the professional culinary education in one of the culinary colleges of Kyiv. It is anticipated that this college will one day be seen as an example for other similar educational institutions and that the profession of a chef will become more prestigious and popular.
In 2019 Yevhen published his first book Tempted by Food. 70 Recipes You’ll Want to Make. The book contains the finest original recipes. Ievgen’s special passion is Ukrainian cuisine. He is engaged in the constant search and modernization of ancient Ukrainian recipes. Some of the dishes already adapted and tested by Yevhen can be found in the chef’s second book Ukrainian Cuisine in 70 Dishes.
In October 2021 Yevhen Klopotenko published his third book Holiday Meals. It contains 70 original recipes for the most significant holidays celebrated by Ukrainians.
In 2021 the fourth book Borshch and Accouterments was also released.
In March 2019 in cooperation with Inna Popereshniuk, Yevhen opened a new restaurant in Kyiv 100 rokiv tomu vpered (100 years ago ahead), which represents a fundamentally new modern form of Ukrainian cuisine. Developing the concept for the restaurant, Yevhen’s main goal was to show people what Ukrainian cuisine would look like if it wasn’t for the Soviet Union and to challenge the stereotype that Ukrainian cuisine consists solely of borshch and varenyky.
In March 2022 Yevhen and Iryna launched a new establishment in Lviv – Inshi bistro. In the difficult times of the full-scale invasion, the establishment became a kind of social contribution of the chef – he provides food to those who, for one reason or another, are unable to pay. Inshi had two menus – the main menu and Menu #2, which people could order free of charge.
On October 6, 2020, following an initiative spearheaded by Yevhen, the Expert Council on Intangible Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine included borshch in the National Register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine. It took Yevhen 1,5 years to ensure this recognition of a traditional Ukrainian dish. He led a couple of borscht expeditions all over Ukraine that allowed the team to collect dozens of family borshch recipes from around the country. Footage filmed during the expeditions was released in 2020 in the form of a documentary called “Borshch. The Secret Ingredient.” In March 2021 Ukraine has submitted an application to add borshch to UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
On July 1, at the 5th extraordinary session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ukrainian borshch was inscribed on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
Yevhen’s efforts aimed at improving the food culture of Ukraine and popularizing Ukrainian cuisine around the world received international recognition. In April 2021 Yevhen Klopotenko was included in the authoritative international list of 50 Next, a list of professionals expanding the boundaries of gastronomy, created by the team behind the world-famous restaurant rating, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
In 2022, the World Influencers and Bloggers Awards named Yevhen the food blogger of the year.
In March 2023, Yevhen becomes the host of the television project Hell’s flour with Ievgen Klopotenko on the STB TV channel. In it Yevhen shows the audience how to prepare dishes from common and available products inspired by our legendary ancestors. In each episode, a star guest comes to Yevhen. Together they make unique Ukrainian dishes and discover such a rich world of Ukrainian gastronomy.
KLOPOTENKO’S VENTURES
● Co-owner and brand chef of the 100 rokiv tomu vpered restaurant (Kyiv), Inshi bistro (Lviv).
● Laureate of 50 NEXT – a list of professionals who are changing the future of gastronomy, from the international ranking of the world’s best restaurants The World’s 50 Best Restaurants (2021).
● Winner of the World Influencers and Bloggers Awards 2022.
● Creator of the most popular culinary website in Ukraine: klopotenko.com.
● Author of four cookbooks, including Tempted by Food. 70 Recipes You’ll Want to Make, Tempted by Food with Ukrainian Flavors, Holiday Meals and Borscht and Accouterments.
● Author of an online course Simple Cooking.
● Mastermind behind the Cult Food Project.
● Host of the television project Hell’s Flour with Ievgen Klopotenko on the STB channel (from 2023 to the present).
● Resident culinary expert of the Snidanok z 1+1 morning show (since 2017 until today).
● Resident culinary expert of the STB shows Vse bude dobre and Vse bude smachno (2016-2018).
● Host of the Eneida project, broadcasted on UA: Pershyi (2018-2020).
● Brand chef at the Mexican restaurant ROJO OJO (2016).
● Brand chef at the Zdorovyi Gluzd (2017).
● Brand chef at the Pashtet café (2018).
● Founder of the Confiture Culinary Workshop, a sauce and jam business.
● Inspiration behind the inscription of borshch on the National Register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine and Ukraine’s submission of an application to include borscht on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.