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Agence France-Presse

Standing amid ruins in east Ukraine, Ruslan Mokrytskyi held a combat knife and concentrated on cutting onions without crying. As trivial as it seems on the front line, it is still not easy.
The mustachioed 32-year-old in military fatigues instructed his comrade to get the right shot of him with his phone.
The angle matters. Mokrytskyi is one of Ukraine’s soldier-influencers keeping up spirits in times of war and has 131,600 followers on TikTok.
“Take a close-up of my fingers,” he told his friend, a cameraman for the day. “Lower the frame.” The shot showed his shrapnel-scarred hands as he peeled the onions carefully for an Italian classic, pasta all’Arrabbiata.

Mokrytskyi’s social media profile describes his life as a part-time celebrity chef and soldier in a nutshell: “A cook from the hell of war”.
Just 24 hours earlier, he was a drone pilot in what he called the “hell of Toretsk” – defending the eastern city that Russia has been trying to capture for months.
At the front since the start of the war in 2022, Mokrytskyi needed a form of escape while being under constant fire.
“After missions, there were, let’s say … many horrible and stressful images,” he said.
“I needed to recuperate mentally.”

He tried to forget the horrors by plunging into films, music, reading and going on walks despite the bombs. But nothing worked.
“I got to the point where I told myself that it would be cool to film myself making fries,” the soldier said.
The success of that idea exceeded his expectations: his video got three million views.
Encouraged, Mokrytskyi involved friends from his battalion, who would call their wives to get ideas for recipes. He then realised he was not only helping his own mental health but that of his comrades too.
“Everyone was joking around,” he said. “It’s not just me rebuilding myself mentally, but also everyone around me.”

His video sessions offer “an hour or two” of lightheartedness – an unusual feeling on the front in Donbas, where fighting has been incessant for two and half years since Moscow invaded.
His fellow battalion member Ivan played with the camera and looked delighted with the uplifting break from war.
Normally, Ivan’s nights are restless.
“When I film Ruslan, I don’t think about the war,” the 25-year-old said, adding that he also gets the extra bonus of a good meal while helping make the videos.
On his TikTok page, Mokrytskyi’s content alternates between cooking recipes and raw images showing the realities of war.

On top of having “vital” psychological benefits, running the social media page means the soldier retains a link with civilian life.
It also allows civilians – as well as his family – to keep informed on what a soldier’s life is like in the east.
Mokrytskyi said that “if you do not have contact with your family, you can go mad”.
He strives to make the content entertaining but war-related, like converting a rifle cartridge into a pepper shaker and using products found in destroyed cities he travels through.
Now a recognisable face, some businesses are getting interested in Mokrytskyi.
“An energy drinks company approached me,” he said, to make him a brand ambassador. “They sent packs of drinks and helped me when I was wounded,” he added, his hands still bearing the scars.

He initially got generous donations from civilians but, after two and a half years of war, those have dried up. Yet he knows his videos help keep up Ukrainian spirits – and even may be helping undermine the enemy’s stereotypes.
“The Russians also watch my videos,” he said with a smile. “They see that we are ordinary people defending their country, and not fascists or I don’t know what else,” he said, referring to Moscow’s portrayal of Ukraine and its stated aim of “de-Nazifying” the country.
This in part motivates him running his cooking war channel, despite his very demanding obligations as a soldier.
When a friend was killed, it took him “four days to get back my spirits” but then he went back to making videos.
Back on his cooking spree, the aroma of hot Parmesan was rising above the ruins and Mokrytskyi emptied the pasta onto the plastic plates of his comrades.
Smiles lit up their faces.


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Food and Drinks

On Ukraine war front, TikTok soldier-influencer chef shoots recipe videos between missions

Ruslan Mokrytskyi poses for a TikTok recipe video while cooking pasta all’Arrabbiata. What sets him apart from other chef influencers is that he is a soldier on the front line of Ukraine’s war with Russia. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi has 131,600 followers on TikTok. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi cooks pasta as his fellow soldier records video of him for TikTok. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi shows a bullet casing containing spices while cooking pasta. He strives to make the content entertaining but war-related. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi tastes the pasta he cooked in an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region. Now a recognisable face, some businesses are getting interested in him. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi’s video sessions offer “an hour or two” of lightheartedness – he knows his videos help keep up Ukrainian spirits. Photo: AFP

Egg tart beer? Hong Kong craft brewer Breer turns surplus baked goods into ales

Breer recently collaborated with Hong Kong Tramways on two Hong Kong-inspired beers. Photo: Mabel Lui

Anushka Purohit and Naman Tekriwal are co-founders of Breer, a Hong Kong start-up that turns baked goods that would otherwise have been thrown away into beer. Photo: Mabel Lui

Anushka Purohit is the chief executive officer of Breer. Photo: Mabel Lui

Breer’s first Hong Kong-inspired beer was launched in early 2022. Photo: Breer

Breer co-founders Naman Tekriwal and Anushka Purohit at the City I&T Grand Challenge in 2021. Photo: Breer

Breer recently collaborated with Hong Kong Tramways to created two Hong Kong-inspired beers. Photo: Mabel Lui

The curry fish ball pale ale and egg tart cream ale on display at the Hong Kong Tramways’ 120th-anniversary pop-up store. Photo: Mabel Lui

Hong Kong food and fashion nostalgia inspire Canadian artist’s Hong Kong Baby Girl show

Canadian artist Kitty Wong with some of her work, inspired by nostalgia for the Hong Kong food and fashion of her childhood, currently on show in the city. Photo: Kitty Wong

Let’s go Cha Chaan Teng, by Kitty Wong, part of her Hong Kong Baby Girl exhibition. Photo: Kitty Wong

Kitty Wong at work in her studio. Photo: Kitty Wong

Kitty Wong’s Food infographic series includes Let’s go Cha Chaan Teng, Let’s go Street Food and Let’s go Asian Bakery. Photo: Kitty Wong

Asian photographers tell stories another way at Berlin roast meat restaurant Rice Service

Rice Service co-founders (left to right) Thu Thuy Pham, Kenneth Lam and Thao Westphal are bringing contemporary Cantonese siu mei to Berlin, Germany. Photo: Rice Service

Roast duck from Rice Service in Berlin, Germany. The new Cantonese restaurant offers a more casual siu mei (roast meat) experience than the traditional Chinese restaurants common in the city. Photo: Rice Service

Rice Service co-founders (from left) Thu Thuy Pham, Kenneth Lam and Thao Westphal. Photo: Rice Service

A poster for Rice Service. Pham and Lam studied fashion photography and are bringing a touch of creative storytelling to the siu mei restaurant. Photo: Rice Service

Roast pork from Rice Service. Photo: Rice Service

Lam’s family members at the Wok Inn, his parents’ restaurant in Northampton, in this undated photo. Photo: Rice Service

Hong Kong noodle history and the different noodle styles explained

Shrimp roe thick noodle lo mien from Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle in Hong Kong. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Roast goose with lai fun rice noodles from Yung Kee in Hong Kong. Learn about the different kinds of noodles served in the city, how they are traditionally made, and the foods they are typically paired with. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Wheat noodles originate in Northern China, while rice noodles have Southern Chinese origins, says Dr Siu Yan-ho, a lecturer in Chinese language and literature at Baptist University. 

Marco Li Ka-chi of Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle balancing on a bamboo pole to make noodles. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Shrimp roe thick noodle lo mien at Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

 Cheung Wing Kee started making noodles in the 1950s, producing small quantities using labour-intensive methods.

Roast goose with lai fun rice noodles. The thicker, neutral-tasting noodles are perfect for absorbing the flavours from the roast goose and broth. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Lifestyle

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Ruslan Mokrytskyi’s TikTok viral recipe videos are shot on the front line of Ukraine’s war and help him, his comrades ‘recuperate mentally’


His first recipe video shot on the front line of Ukraine’s war with Russia got three million views. Now Ruslan Mokrytskyi’s comrades in arms canvas their wives for recipes, and help him shoot for TikTok.


Social media

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Ukraine war

On Ukraine war front, TikTok soldier-influencer chef shoots recipe videos between missions

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Ruslan Mokrytskyi’s TikTok viral recipe videos are shot on the front line of Ukraine’s war and help him, his comrades ‘recuperate mentally’

Ruslan Mokrytskyi’s TikTok viral recipe videos are shot on the front line of Ukraine’s war and help him, his comrades ‘recuperate mentally’