"Applause for the chef": a school lunch shown in Korabelnyi that not everyone could recognize
"Would you eat this yourself?": a photo of school meals sparked a heated debate
In the morning of 25 September 2026, the editorial office of Korabelov.info received a message for the #нампишуть column with a photograph of a lunch that, according to the author, was served to children that day at one of the schools in the Korabelnyi District of Mykolaiv. The school’s number was not specified in the message.
The post’s author ironically commented on what was seen on the plate: from the whole dish, he said, only the carrot could be clearly identified.
“Today they give very tasty food at the Korabelnyi school, although apart from the carrot, it’s unclear what it is.
But the people who cook and serve this to children probably feed their loved ones the same way at home. Applause and greetings to the head chef.”
The post quickly provoked an emotional reaction from readers. Within minutes one user briefly reacted to what he saw.
“What the hell is this?”
Another reader posed a much harsher question.
“How much do you have to hate children, the people around you, to do something like this?”
A separate discussion arose around disposable tableware. One commenter recalled a recent news item about the purchase of plastic containers and spoons for educational institutions in Mykolaiv.
“Is this the tableware they plan to spend more than a million hryvnias on? To me, they should rather think about what they put into this tableware 🥴🥴🥴”
This refers to a procurement that Korabelov.info wrote about on 23 September 2026. The municipal production enterprise responsible for organizing catering in educational institutions plans to purchase 250,000 plastic containers with a capacity of 750 ml and 150,000 disposable plastic spoons. The expected cost of the procurement was 1,390,416.67 UAH, and the lowest bid — 1,362,500 UAH excluding VAT — was submitted by LLC “YUNITEP-2”.
One of the discussion participants suggested that after such a lunch some children might have remained hungry.
“Today the children at this school are most likely hungry, unless parents gave extra money to buy a snack…”
When another user objected, saying that the country is at war and one should “be glad they’re feeding them like that”, the woman asked a simple question.
“Can’t you calm down? Would you eat this yourself?”
She later added another question.
“Do the children deserve such food?”
More serious accusations also appeared in the comments — including suggestions of possible embezzlement. However, no documents or other evidence supporting such claims are provided in the post or comments, so there is no basis to treat them as established fact.
At the same time, the problem of how school lunches are perceived in Mykolaiv already has concrete numbers. On 16 September 2026 the head of the city education department, Hanna Lychko, reported that 3,337 schoolchildren, or about 14% of the children covered by the program, had refused the free hot meals. In total, 20,983 students receive free meals. One of the official’s reasons for refusal she named was that the children did not like the offered dishes.
Against this background, from 18 September 2026 large-scale inspections of child nutrition organization began in Mykolaiv schools. Specialists from the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection are to check the sanitary condition of kitchen facilities, product storage conditions, temperature regimes, preparation methods, compliance of actual dishes with the approved menu and portion sizes. Testing of drinking water and ready-made dishes is also planned.
As of 25 September 2026, such inspections are ongoing. They are to cover general secondary education institutions in Mykolaiv that operate in-person or in a mixed format.
So today’s photograph from the Korabelnyi District appeared at the very moment when supervisory authorities are already checking the question “what is actually on schoolchildren’s plates.”
Earlier we wrote:
- They plan to spend 1.39 million UAH on disposable plastic for Mykolaiv schools
- Thousands of students in Korabelnyi district may be left without meals: prosecutor demands 6.7 million UAH from the contractor
- The first complaints to the bot about school food have already been received: what is happening in the region’s schools
- School meals in Korabelnyi: “salad problems”, who gets seconds, “prices like in the Verkhovna Rada”
- Klopotenko responded to criticism: “I don’t stand by every stove”
