Cooking With Compassion: WCK Ukraine’s Yuliia Serves With Heart
For Yuliia, cooking isn’t just a job, it’s something she has loved since childhood.
“I really liked cooking from the very beginning,” she says. “It was always my passion, something I was born with.”
This passion guided every step of her life. When she was choosing where to study, she picked engineering and technology in hospitality because she always liked the culinary world and gastronomy. Soon, she found herself working with Italian chef Andrea Nori, whom she calls her second father. Yuliia moved to Verona, Italy, where she stayed for seven years managing a restaurant. “It shaped me and gave me this feeling of joy inside. I never burned out because I always did what I loved,” she says. But at the same time, she missed home.
“When the war started, my soul wasn’t in place,” she says. “I helped however I could — with fundraising, sending packages, supporting from afar — but I always felt I wanted to come back home.”
In 2025, she decided to return to Ukraine. “I can’t call it anything other than fate,” she says. Soon after, she saw the opening at World Central Kitchen for a Culinary Lead position. “I just decided to try. I saw WCK’s values, and they really resonated with me,” she says. “I love people. It feels like this position and WCK combine my love for people, my passion for food, and my professional experience perfectly.”
As Culinary Lead, she oversees all culinary functions of WCK’s response in Ukraine. She supports partners so they can succeed in serving warm, nourishing meals. They discuss menus, try new ideas, and always listen carefully to feedback from recipients.
“I want them to see me not as someone checking on them, but as someone they’re happy to see, someone they wait for and want to share their ideas with,” she explains. She is also deeply involved in community kitchens and new projects, like bulk ingredient support for shelters with kitchens but no products. “When I visit, it’s not just a request and a response. It’s living communication. In each menu and each new project, there is a part of my soul,” she says.
Her favorite part is seeing the people behind each meal — the cooks, the community teams, and the recipients. In every region, she sees strength and kindness that inspire her.
In each menu and each new project, there is a part of my soul.
Yuliia
WCK Ukraine Culinary Lead
Her favorite thing to cook is simple food from her mother’s garden: young potatoes with sour cream and dill. “I imagine it like a movie scene,” she laughs. “Digging up fresh potatoes and picking herbs in the morning, then putting them all into your bowl… It’s happiness.”
For Yuliia, food is not just about taste or technique. “I believe the strength of every person is in their roots,” she says. “That’s why WCK’s focus on culturally appropriate food resonates so much with me. Food connects us to who we are, where we come from, and the traditions that shape us. It reminds people that they are cared for and that they matter — even during the hardest times. Food really has the power to bring hope and warmth to people.”
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