'Peace Bread' — How An Italian Baker Is Doing His Bit To Help Ukrainian Refugees

Matteo Cunsolo makes his peace bread in the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag, and proceeds from the sale go to a charity fund helping the Ukrainian refugees.

Baker Matteo Cunsolo making 'PEACE' bread at his bakery in La Panetteria in Parabiago, near Milan | Photo: Facebook/Matteo Cunsolo

New Delhi: A baker in northern Italy is selling “peace bread” to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian troops. 

Matteo Cunsolo, who runs a small bakery in La Panetteria in Parabiago, near Milan, makes the bread in the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag, and proceeds from the sale go to a charity fund helping the refugees in Italy and also those still staying put in Ukraine.

“Bread brings together and unites the peoples. For this reason, we de La Panetteria, hope that bread with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, will bring a message of peace on the tables of families supporting the victims of this war,” Cunsolo said in a Facebook post in Italian.

He added: “At this moment we believe that each of us should do what we can to express closeness and solidarity with the Ukrainian people. ‘Bread for Peace’ is a drop in helping people affected by this conflict. Let’s make bread and try to put what we can do to show solidarity and help raise funds to help children and their families. May this message of peace, through bread, spread in your homes and your families.”

According to Cunsolo's post, the blue and yellow bread loaves with ‘PEACE’ written on them is being sold for 12 euros a kilogram (around Rs 1,000 in Indian currency), and the proceeds are going to the Lions Club Parabiago, or ‘Giuseppe Maggiolini’, which has since February 27 activated a special fund.

'Drop In The Ocean, But...It Would Help'

Cunsolo and other bakers from the area also made 600 kg of cookies to be given to young refugees, according to an AP report. 

“After running away from the bombs, perhaps travelling across forests by night in the cold, I think a cookie is like a little cuddle that can help bring a smile on a child’s face,” the report quoted the baker as saying.

Cunsolo got the idea to bake a special bread after he saw a TV report about the Ukrainians being received at the Poland border where they were given a warm beverage to drink along with a piece of bread.

“When I heard the word bread I thought – ‘OK I am a baker, what can I do to help?’” Cunsolo told AP.

The report said he uses natural food colours in his peace bread — saffron for the yellow, and butterfly pea flower for the blue. Once the baked bread loaves are out of the oven, Cunsolo decorates them using a butter-based spray and a ‘PEACE’ stencil.

“It’s a drop in the ocean, but if we all gave a contribution, it would help,” Maria Pascolin, a customer at the shop, was quoted as saying. 

According to the AP report, Cunsolo makes about 20 kg of these breads every day, and had until last week raised more than 2,000 euros.