Cooking in the Wild: Сучасна гастрономія в глибинах Карпат. Ігор Мезенцев; Дмитро Бахта

The book Cooking in the Wild is about survival in the nature of the Ukrainian Carpathians, cooking together, respect for the environment, the forest and the mountains, love for Ukrainian traditions, and the vocation of being a chef. In 2019, renowned chef Igor Mezencev, together with talented food photographer Dmytro Bahta and Anna Smoliakova, created a unique project called TOPOT, whose main goal is to return to the roots of national gastronomy. The participants – Ukrainian and foreign chefs – spend five days in the forest, mountains, and riverbanks. They prepare modern dishes in completely wild conditions, using only ingredients they can take from nature and buy from local farmers.

2021 brought the fourth occurrence of TOPOT, named TOPOT: Bridge, a project which took place in the Carpathians and is included in this publication. It was attended by Ukrainian chefs as well as representatives of the foreign gastronomic community from the UAE, Denmark, Spain, the USA, and the UK. Everyone was on equal footing – men and women, celebrity chefs, and beginners. The cooks had to find, collect, or buy the ingredients from farmers. During this expedition, the participants used various techniques to prepare numerous dishes made from the deer they bought from local hunters and the meat they purchased from farmers: boiling, roasting over a fire, and baking in an earthen oven. To the maximum extent possible, the chefs used wild plants, edible fruits, nuts, and seeds along with herbs, mushrooms, etc. Familiar plants that surround Ukrainians at every step and grow in gardens, fields, and forests were used by chefs as flavorful seasonings, and sometimes were even the central ingredient of culinary creations.

As a result, Dmytro Bahta has created a unique photographic material that demonstrates contemporary, complex dishes, often truly haute cuisine, through modern stylized photographs. This project, like all TOPOTs, provided an invaluable contribution to the development of modern gastronomy in Ukraine, as well as motivation and inspiration for all chefs and farmers. This is an unprecedented case, as such culinary expeditions have never been organized in Europe before. Ukrainians still do not often understand the treasures of our unique nature, the rich traditions and heritage that underpin our contemporary culture, of which gastronomy is an integral part. This is what our book is about.