‘Flavors of Ukraine’ event funds hot meals for refugees

Devine Eats will prepare recipes provided by University of Wyoming student Anastasiia Pereverten this Saturday. The proceeds go to international nonprofit World Central Kitchen.

Laramie residents have the chance to sample Ukrainian food this Saturday, while supporting a humanitarian organization that’s currently providing hot meals to Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

As part of Downtown Laramie’s International Flavor Festival, Devine Eats will be serving up Borscht soup, Vareniki dumplings, meatballs and sweets this Saturday.

The proceeds will go to World Central Kitchen, which responds to humanitarian, climate and community crises around the world. In addition to disaster relief, World Central Kitchen also works to support locally resilient food systems, according to the organization’s website.

Devine Eats is run by local defense attorney Linda Devine, who uses the business to host fundraising events for local nonprofits and causes. Devine Eats has raised money for organizations such as the Downtown Clinic and Laramie Reproductive Health.

Devine aims to bring people together through food, and jumped at the chance to bring people together over Ukrainian food while simultaneously supporting the people of Ukraine

“No matter what your political beliefs are, I think we can all get behind just making sure folks have food to eat no matter what’s going on,” she said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, more than 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. Humanitarian organizations have provided food, shelter, medicine or other aid to some 900,000 Ukrainians, but shelling, landmines and other war-time dangers have made access and travel difficult for aid workers.

University of Wyoming student Anastasiia Pereverten has monitored the war in her homeland from Laramie, doing what she can to raise awareness and support for her country from more than 5,000 miles away.

“I am working with every possible resource to not just get people to support Ukraine by donating, spreading information and addressing their representation, but letting them know what kind of great country and culture Ukraine is,” she said.

Pereverten provided the recipes Devine will be cooking up Saturday, calling her grandmother in Ukraine to refamiliarize herself with them.

“We spent a couple of hours writing down her recipes and then I translated them into English and sent them to Linda,” Pereverten said.

She added she was particularly interested to bring Vareniki dumplings to Laramie. Pereverten said she has fond memories of making them by the dozens with her mother and grandmother on a semi-regular basis.

Her mother and grandmother are still back home amidst the warzone. But Pereverten said Vareniki is one way Americans can learn to see Ukraine as more than a foreign battlefield.

“It’s been an important part of my family history and it’s also an extremely traditional and well-known Ukrainian meal,” she said. “Ukraine is a marvelous country with marvelous people and culture.”

Most people will be familiar with Devine Eats as a mobile food truck, but Devine recently started renting a storefront downtown and will serve this weekend’s Ukrainian offerings there.

‘Flavors of Ukraine’ starts at 11 a.m. Saturday in the new storefront, which is located at 211 Grand Avenue.