Olga Martynovskaya won the third season of MasterChef Ukraine in 2013 and teaches culinary arts at the Culinary Academy of Hector Jimenez-Bravo.
My name is Olga Martynovskaya. I teach culinary arts at the Culinary Academy of Hector Jimenez-Bravo, but I’m better known as the winner of the third season of the Ukrainian version of MasterChef.
I was born on September 2, 1989, in the small village of Yurivka, Ukraine, into the family of a teacher and a beekeeper. My childhood was very happy: fun and carefree, with lots of sun, fresh air, and games with the other kids. I enjoyed climbing trees and running, and my mother used to call me “windy,” meaning a fidget…
One of my mother’s favorite memories of my childhood is from when I was 4.5 years old. Some guys from high school asked me, mocking: “Olga, do you know where babies come from?” “I learned where they come from a long time ago,” I said, “but where the very first person came from is still a mystery to me!”
From an early age until now, my weakness and my strength at the same time has been curiosity, which I feel absolutely always and about everything around me.
My parents never forced me to do anything I didn’t want to. I was a freedom-loving child, and I’ve stayed that way. I wanted to become a doctor, but later I changed my mind and got confused about choosing a profession.
I’m 25. I graduated from the Agrarian University with a specialization in International Management. I worked as a bank clerk and as a tour guide for the university’s students, did various internships in France (champagne production, viticulture, the production and processing of dairy products, floristry), worked as a waitress, and studied at the Faculty of Philology at a French university…
I was always on the move. That’s why I don’t have that much cooking experience: it’s tiny, but shiny.
The official start of my culinary story is October 13, 2013, when I became the winner of the cooking show MasterChef Ukraine. So I still can’t rightfully be called a “professional”: I have to keep growing to reach that status, and I have a lot to learn, to make mistakes, and to learn again… But that doesn’t scare me at all.
When I came into the MasterChef kitchen for the first time, I felt that I had finally found my place and that I had made the right choice in leaving my work and studies in France. I haven’t stopped being curious, I learn fast, and I always try to do better. I’m focused on conquering the highest culinary peaks, and I will do my best to reach this goal.
My biggest helpers in this are my great love for my work and my beloved people. My parents filled me with love and warmth from early childhood; this love is always in me and with me, and now it’s time to share it with others. Some people express their feelings in a song or a poem, a painting or a dance… And I do it with a dish.
My mother cooks simple but very tasty food. I remember asking her to teach me to make soup and bread, but Mom told me she would teach me everything when I got married, and that while I was young I should enjoy myself! So the kitchen door was almost closed to me.
The desire to get closer to the stove came back to me only when I first went to France. There I fell in love with food and food culture, and I realized that I had become dependent on it and that I now cared a great deal about what I ate and when. That’s how I began to read and learn more about the mysterious world of cooking and culinary arts. My circle changed, and there were more and more cooks, chefs, and pastry chefs among my friends.
At some point, I again felt confusion and doubt: was it time for me to go back home, what should I do with my life, how should I live… And at that moment MasterChef came into my life. That’s how, by chance, I was drawn into the magical world of cooking.
French cuisine has always been, and still is, my favorite. Just as a little child is taught to walk, French chefs taught me to cook, step by step, little by little. It was love at first meal, and I truly believe the feeling is mutual.
There is no product I could say I don’t like: I love everything, and I love everything homemade. When a product was grown with care and love, it simply can’t be bad. I also love cooking everything, and by the way, I’m still not sure who lives in me, a chef or a pastry cook.
My favorite fruit is passion fruit. A good friend once told me that it’s just like me, and she even calls me that: Passion Fruit.
Sports have always been my hobby: that’s how I rest, put my thoughts in order, and reboot. I love to read, mostly novels, and I graduated from a piano music school. But my favorite hobby is beekeeping, the magical world of tiny creatures that do a great job! If I hadn’t become a chef, I would certainly have become a beekeeper.
The most important and most difficult goal for me is to find my purpose in life: the place where you feel needed and where you will always be comfortable. Like everyone, I was plagued by the question “What is the meaning of life?” And when I realized that it’s all about simply being happy, everything became so clear.
I wholeheartedly wish everyone simply to be happy. And happiness is… well, everyone has their own meaning for it!
It was really hard for me to pick the dish I wanted to treat you to. I thought about lots of fine dining delights and haute cuisine dishes, but I settled on simple ones, because I believe that the hardest thing, the real strength, lies in simplicity! Simplicity is the perfect word to describe me.
I’d like to present for your attention and aesthetic pleasure “Tomato chess,” Fruit Carpaccio, and Baba with mint syrup. Paul Bocuse said something like, “How difficult it is to be simple!” That kind of difficulty is very close to my heart.
