In a Bratislava bakery, a blender scarred by a Russian missile is a daily reminder of war

Together with Oksana Isaienko, Mykola Nevrev owns the Bloom Bakery chain. Both came from Ukraine, but for slightly different reasons.

Thirteen years ago, he started studying photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. But he became a successful baker who started using lievito madre, the famous Italian sourdough. However, he does not forget about his Ukrainian roots. He helps out in an organisation that bakes thousands of loaves of bread in his home country.

"When people send us photos of bread from Ukraine, we realise the value of our work," Nevrev says.

Have you had a relationship with baking since childhood?

When I was six, I had a rare kidney disease that was related to a metabolic disorder. I was on very strict diets my entire childhood. I could not eat cakes or pies. In primary school, I compensated for this by drawing cookbooks and inventing recipes. When I published my first two cookbooks as an adult, I realised that I had actually manifested it in this way during my childhood.

What did your parents think about you becoming a baker?

At first, it was difficult for them. They are both university professors and were sad that I was not following their path. But now they are happy, my mother sometimes comes, too.