Nikolay Truba, a true Odesan and chef at Babooshka, studied basic food technologies at the Odesa Economic University and fills what he does with love.
It doesn’t matter how old you are if you’re not satisfied with your life. I’m glad that I live with gratitude and a smile. I live by what I do and fill it with love, and I’m sure my guests can feel it and eagerly trust my culinary experiments again and again.
My name is Nikolay Truba. I’m a true Odesan, cheerful and young, so don’t ask me about my age. I’m proud of my Soviet childhood, my coming of age in the perestroika era, and the amazing opportunities of the present time.
Cooking, combinations of products, types of dishes, and the methods to create them: I’ve been interested in all these things since I was a teenager. I never hesitated to learn cooking, and I’m still learning, because the creative process never ends.
At the Odesa Economic University they taught us basic food technologies. That big old building on Troitska Street still opens the door to life for many talented young people.
When I studied there, education was “traditional”: we attended the interesting lectures and bought the uninteresting ones. Only years later did I regret my “purchases.” But I found the books and videos I needed, and I listened, watched, read, and experimented.
Apart from creating new dishes, sharing my skills while cooking “classics,” and studying new gastronomic trends, I helped people correct their diets. Healthy living, ketogenic, paleo, and Dukan diets: there are hundreds of nutrition plans nowadays. They are based on low-carbohydrate eating, which leads to weight loss and the desired figure.
As a creator, I find it hard to call such eating behavior adequate. I stand for harmony in everything, because this is what life is all about.
For me, the tastiest food is my mother’s. I’m a true Odesan, and that says it all. My mother’s food is simple, plain, and unpretentious, and yet only her dishes are full of a special energy: sincere and absolute love.
An attitude like this is important in any business, and I think it plays a special role in cooking. Grievances, discontent, sadness, and weariness should be left outside, and my kitchen is full of peace. Sounds too perfect, doesn’t it? Of course, there are conflicts, arguments, and failures, but I learn, and teach others, to be angry at the situation and circumstances, not at people.
Even the most perfect machine can make an error or break down. And we, thank God, are alive and real, and I appreciate that a lot. I always say: “Thank God we cook. Thank God people eat the food we cook, because it’s tasty.” I’m very grateful for my friendly family and my talented team: together we make people happy.
