A skirt and crocs: can children’s health be entrusted to Chef Klopotenko, who experiments not only in the kitchen (video)
Well, dear Ukrainians, it seems that we are entering a new era of fashion! Overton windows in action! While some are fighting, barely making ends meet due to treatment for injuries, broken homes and lost property, chef Yevhen Klopotenko, known for his menu for Ukrainian children, spends a lot of money on another “fashionable bow” and flaunts his skirt. By the way, why doesn’t he fight? The question remains open. But along with his gastronomic experiments on children, he does not neglect his own “creative” wardrobe. A skirt over pants, crocs and a piece of quinoa instead of an accessory — this is how Klopotenko’s fashion looks.
Evgeny Klopotenko, known for his eccentric culinary ideas, such as a croissant with the taste of borscht, decided not to limit himself only to the kitchen. Now he not only creates on plates, but also on the main street of Kyiv, and of course, this caused an ambiguous reaction of Ukrainians. In the video of the popular blogger and singer Nicholas Karma in the column “How much is your bow?” Evgeny spoke in detail about every element of his outfit, not even omitting his underpants. Yes, that’s right, underwear for 900 hryvnias!
Klopotenko came into the world in a rather unconventional way: white clothes with a skirt-cape for 8 thousand hryvnias, black crocs, a plaid vest for a conditional 3500 hryvnias and a piece of quinoa. He even said that this accessory gives him “naturalness” and “uniqueness”.
The opinions of his fans were divided. Some say that Eugene emphasizes his personality and his bold choice deserves respect: “You have done so much for Ukraine that you can wear anything”. Others are indignant: “Skirt? How many more such fashionable experiments?”.
Critics immediately picked up on this topic: is Klopotenko the person who should be trusted with the important issues of children’s nutrition? Isn’t his eccentric behavior a reflection of the fact that it is more important for him to attract attention than to approach the work responsibly? People are questioning whether his reforms are actually aimed at improving children’s health, or whether they are just another way to stay in the spotlight.
Typical comments in social networks
Elena: “When a person spends 17,000 hryvnias on his wardrobe and at the same time talks about reforming school meals, I can’t help but wonder what is more important to him: the health of children or his own popularity?”.
Michael: “Or maybe he prepares school menus in the same “style” as his outfits? I wonder how his experiments will end. If you can still laugh with style, then with children’s nutrition, jokes are bad”.
Lyudmila: “Can a person who spends such sums on clothes really care about a balanced diet for children? One gets the impression that he is more interested in fashion and PR than working for the benefit of children.”.
Sergey: “When you see such behavior, you doubt whether you can even trust his approach to nutrition. If he is so experimenting with style, what can he come up with for school canteens?”
Marina: “With such approaches, he also made a menu for schoolchildren experimentally. But nutrition is not a fashion, here experiments can lead to serious problems. It’s not for nothing that children don’t eat his creative dishes.”
Oksana: “I believe that children’s nutrition should be entrusted to adequate and psychologically healthy people, not to people like Klopotenko in a woman’s skirt! How many experiments can be conducted on people, especially children! Are there really talented and adequate cooks in Ukraine? Why do the authorities choose such people???”.
It should be noted that Klopotenko is not the first to draw attention to himself with his style and behavior. In 2023, he already shared a video on Instagram, where he demonstrated a new purchase – a skirt, which he combined with jeans. Then he also asked his subscribers: “What do you think, normal or not?”. He used to provoke both in the kitchen and in life. And this is definitely part of his personal brand – not being afraid to be different, not being afraid to break with tradition. His style may not be for everyone, but it definitely creates discussion and adds to his popularity.
While some commentators have sarcastically hinted at the risk of catching a cold without socks in this winter time, others see it as a challenge to traditional fashion and stereotypes. So whether this is a new trend or just a bold experiment, only time will tell. One thing can be said for sure: Evgeny Klopotenko is no longer just a chef – he is a symbol of creativity, scandal and ambiguous PR.
In his attempt to draw attention to himself, Klopotenko seems to have forgotten that he is not just a media person, but a person entrusted with the health of thousands of schoolchildren and children in kindergartens. Trusting Klopotenko in this case is a responsible step, because children’s nutrition should be based on caring for their health and adequate, psychologically mature behavior, and not on the desire to draw attention to oneself with an unconventional appearance. His public experiments with an image that is more like a circus performance raise serious doubts about the validity and seriousness of his culinary ideas for school canteens.
As a reminder, from January 1, 2022, Ukrainian schools and kindergartens switched to a new nutrition system developed by Yevhen Klopotenko. The project was supported by the first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska. The new menu includes more than 160 dishes, including shepherd’s pie, cinnamon cinnabons, chicken nuggets, gnocchi and other dishes unusual for school canteens.
However, not all parents evaluated these innovations positively. The main complaints are related to small portions, unusual food for children and the high cost of products. Parents actively discuss menu changes in social networks and parent chats, emphasizing that children come home hungry. Bread and butter and sweet tea, familiar to many schoolchildren, were removed from the menu, and in their place appeared, for example, beet fritters, which children do not always like. Particular dissatisfaction was caused by the lack of salt and sugar in most dishes. Parents complain that their children refuse to eat unsalted foods, they only eat selectively, and some simply throw food away.
Canteen workers are no less critical. They note that the new dishes require a higher level of culinary skill, which is not in line with their qualifications, because they have to prepare dishes almost at a restaurant level, which they have not done before.
