Ina Garten feels a personal connection to the Ukrainian refugees fleeing their homeland while Russia continues its invasion of the country.
On Wednesday, the "Barefoot Contessa" host posted an old family photo on Instagram, featuring her grandmother, who escaped the Ukrainian city of Odessa decades ago.
“My grandmother (left in the photo) came from Odessa in the early 1900’s to escape the dreadful pogroms and made a wonderful life for all of us in America,” she captioned the picture. “My heart goes out to everyone who is forced to fight for or flee their homeland because of a horrific war.”
Garten also explained how her grandmother enjoyed being in the kitchen and gifted her with the dress she wore as a young girl in the photo.
“Btw she loved to cook and entertain friends; people who knew her say I am just like her. She also brought me that off-the-shoulder dress from Paris, starting my life-long love for that beautiful city,” she wrote, concluding the post with the hashtag #stopthewar.
Ukrainians have been leaving their country in droves, heading for safety in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia, as the war shows no signs of slowing down.
Garten isn’t the only person in the food community who’s been moved by what’s happening in Ukraine.
At the end of February, chef José Andrés posted a video on Twitter announcing his not-for-profit organization, World Central Kitchen, had set up mobile kitchens at the Ukraine-Poland border to feed refugees.
"It is below freezing tonight & I am meeting so many refugees, families who are escaping & don’t know what’s next… We will do our best not to let them down," he captioned another video.