Mila Cooks

“When we cook together, I calm down. They miss home. And this Ukrainian food reminds them of home.”

Mila and her three kids - Masha, Tanya and Mateo - fled from their home in Vinnaytsia, a Ukrainian city far from the eastern frontline struck by Russian missiles in early July.

They are living on the Polish/Ukrainian border. Everyday, they cook a different Ukrainian dish together. When teaching her daughter how to make Ukrainian fried sausage pierogis, Mila showed Masha how to weave the dough. She said it’s therapeutic because it reminds them that things that have been separated can be woven back together.

“We came to save the lives of our kids,” she said. “And we cook to stay hopeful. We hope we can go home to my parents, to our Ukraine.”