The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, together with the Ukrainian Institute, joined the AMA (Ask Me Anything) format in the official Reddit food community (r/food), which has 24 million members. Representatives of these institutions spoke about the history and present of Ukrainian cuisine, its role in public diplomacy, and the place of culinary traditions in shaping identity.
Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) is a format for online Q&A sessions that fosters niche, expert discussions and has gained significant popularity in the United States. During the session, a participant creates a post introducing themselves and the discussion topic and answers user questions in the comments for an hour.
Viktoriia Lialina-Boiko, Director of the Public Diplomacy and Communications Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, answered users' questions about Ukraine’s creative communications during the war, culinary diplomacy projects, and the role of gastrodiplomacy in promoting Ukrainian culture and traditions. The discussion covered initiatives such as "Honey of the Minefields" and the MFA's campaign promoting the "Grain from Ukraine" initiative, highlighted Russia’s attempts to appropriate Ukrainian culinary traditions, and explored Ukrainian recipes and the realities of cooking and eating during wartime.
"Collaborating with Reddit is a timely and valuable opportunity to share Ukraine’s uniqueness, resilience, and creativity with global audiences. Food may seem like a simple and obvious topic, but in discussing cuisine, we also spoke about decolonization, combating Russian disinformation, Ukrainian history and traditions, the challenges of war, and the extraordinary resistance of Ukrainians. I am grateful to the Reddit team for this collaboration and hope this is just the beginning of our joint efforts," said Viktoriia Lialina-Boiko.
Other participants in the online session included:
- Tetiana Filevska – Creative Director of the Ukrainian Institute and curator of the Ukraine. Food & History project. She spoke about cuisine as an integral part of Ukraine’s intangible cultural heritage, historical transformations of Ukrainian cuisine, and its influence on global gastronomy.
- Olena Braichenko – Gastronomic culture researcher, founder of the Їzhakultura project, and editor-in-chief of Їzhak publishing house. She discussed contemporary Ukrainian cuisine.
- Marianna Dushar – Anthropologist and researcher of Ukrainian diaspora cuisine in the U.S. and Galician food traditions. She spoke about the role of food in shaping identity and a sense of belonging.
This event became an important initiative in promoting Ukrainian culture and highlighted the strong interest of the international community in Ukrainian cuisine and gastronomic traditions.
