Maria Kalenska

Maria Kalenska is a culinary writer, traveler and home cook who’s been working on one of the most ambitious cookbook projects to come out of the Odesan diaspora - a collection of recipes and family stories from 100 Odesans now living around the world. She was born into a fourth-generation Odesan family. At home, the sea was always nearby, and photography and cooking were part of daily life. Her father, who once wanted to be a sailor, used to walk the shoreline on the weekends in his striped naval striped shirt with a camera. He taught Maria how to take photos and, more importantly, how to notice things - the play of light, the mix of cultures, the way people cook and talk and shop. She often describes Odesa as a “little America,” full of different nationalities. Maria spent many years in food- and hospitality-related work, where she worked with well-known people from the worlds of tableware, wine, and restaurants, including Lord Wedgwood, Wendelin von Boch, Georg Riedel, and chef David Tissot. This experience provided her with skills and inspiration which informed her passion for food and its importance in society. Her interest in culinary education led her to open Odesa’s first cooking school, which quickly became a popular place for lessons, tastings, and community events. She was invited to work on the EU Geographical Indication project, helping develop Ukraine’s first food-and-wine route, and spent several years leading food tours in Bessarabia for travelers curious about the region’s cuisine. After moving to the UK in 2014, she began organizing gastronomic excursions, from programs at Fortnum & Mason in London to tours of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, with visits to vineyards, farms, cheesemakers and distilleries. Her groups often stayed at Eastnor Castle to study the history of the region. During this time, she also wrote for travel magazines about gastronomic locations, their history and culinary traditions. When the pandemic began, she volunteered at Carousel in London, helping to cook meals for hospitals. She also created an online cooking and bread-baking school with Ukranian baker Mykola Nevrev to support hospitality workers who had lost their jobs. In 2021 she helped create the “Best Riedel Glass for Odesa Black” initiative to promote Ukrainian winemaking. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, she founded the non profit Bake for Ukraine organization to help tackle food shortages during the war. Maria now divides her time between Germany, the UK, and Ukraine. She is volunteering, writing, cooking, promoting and preserving food culture of her beloved Odesa.