A large-scale exhibition project “To the Festivities in Kyiv. A Tasty History Through the Ages” has opened at the Museum of Kyiv History. The project aims to demonstrate the development of the city’s gastronomic culture from the times of Kyivan Rus to the present day. Gastronomic culture is a practical tool of survival and a significant cultural phenomenon that unites generations and shapes the identity of society. It carries memory, values, symbols, and taboos passed down through recipes, traditions, and experience.

What were the taste preferences of Kyiv residents in the princely era? What dishes were served to guests by Cossack officers? What were the rules of etiquette in the refined society of 19th-century Kyiv? What food did city dwellers have to survive on during the turbulent years of the 20th century, and what trials did they endure during the period of questionable socio-political experiments of the Soviet era? What is modern Ukrainian cuisine like, and which gastronomic delights have we managed to preserve to this day?

Answers to these questions are eagerly sought by both enthusiasts of Kyiv antiquity and professional historians on the pages of cookbooks, between the lines of handwritten recipe notebooks, in fragmentary chronicle references and vividly colored miniatures — as well as in capacious ceramic pots, glossy glazed bowls, ringing crystal goblets, in the gleam of table silver and the dignified whiteness of porcelain; moreover, even in the preserved, somewhat excessive by today’s minimalist standards, Soviet tableware sets kept in attics.

The exhibition project “To the Festivities in Kyiv. A Tasty History Through the Ages” is intended to present the culture of food consumption and the features of gastronomy in Kyiv from the times of Rus to the present day through a range of key aspects, such as: the selection of products — local and imported; the traditional table and its setting — from everyday to festive; the diversity of recipes — from those shaped by general historical trends to distinctive “Kyiv-style” ones; as well as the socio-cultural evolution of nutrition from the “home” level of food preparation to the emergence of restaurant business trends and “street” food.

The honorary mission of this exhibition project is to modernize history and popularize Kyiv’s gastronomic traditions, making them easier to follow for visitors of the Museum of Kyiv History and for all admirers of Ukrainian cuisine. Together with the project partners — the NOVUS supermarket chain and the Film.ua film studio — the team recreated and filmed five video recipes of dishes illustrating different historical eras: Old Rus kissel, Cossack borshch, Chicken Kyiv, Kyiv cake, and Kyiv perepichka. The role of the star chef is performed by well-known journalist and host of the 1+1 TV channel, Kostiantyn Hrubych. The videos featuring the recreated historical recipes can be viewed directly at the exhibition as well as on the social media pages of the Museum of Kyiv History. In this way, museum professionals aim not only to spark visitors’ interest in the history of urban gastronomic culture, but also to encourage culinary experimentation, deeper exploration of traditions, and the preservation and enrichment of intangible cultural values through personal practice.