Welcome to The New Baguette!

Hello, and welcome to my new home. Chez Sasha had a great run for over half a decade and the time to evolve into something new has arrived.

So why the change? Well, I started blogging for two reasons: first, to combat basic boredom, and second, to document my kitchen experiments and share them with the world. When I wrote my first blog post (it is still live, much to my embarrassment), I had no idea what I was doing – not in terms of writing recipes, nor in taking photos – and had no intentions or goals for it whatsoever. All I knew was that it was really fun to write, rewarding to have written, and that I couldn’t wait to share my next recipe. I never thought anyone outside of my friends and family would read my blog. Seven years and hundreds of blog posts later, everything has changed. I’ve developed my own recipe-writing style, purchased a DSLR camera and studied the necessary editing software, made friends through the blogosphere, and enjoyed some amazing experiences as a perk of being a blogger.

When I launched Chez Sasha, I didn’t think of it as a “brand.” Whenever I told people about my blog, they usually had a hard time pronouncing it or even understanding what I’m saying. Other times, I’d be met with confusion and asked if I’m French and who is Sasha – at which point I’d be forced to explain that Sasha is diminutive for Alexandra in Russian, but only my family calls me that, and that I’m not even Russian, I’m Ukrainian, but Russian is my first language (see? It’s exhausting!).

Aside from the pronunciation thing, I needed a breath of fresh air for my blog. I wanted the new name to represent an element of innovation – a move towards more health- and environment-conscious eating (hence The New) – as well as to showcase my love and respect obsession with French culinary traditions (and what’s more traditional than the beloved baguette?).

When I started blogging, the idea of healthful cooking was not something I had an interest in. As far as I was concerned, healthy meant sharing a bag of M&M’s with my sister instead of eating the whole thing by myself. But over the years, I’ve been exposed to life-changing books and theories, and today, the idea of healthful cooking and eating is a constant in my life – and it is something I am truly passionate about sharing with others.

While there is no shortage of food blogs on the interwebs, they often seem to fall into either of two categories: there are the gorgeous pie-cake-pasta-cheese-on-everything blogs that celebrate the indulgence factor of food; and then there’s the quinoa-kale-chia-hemp camp – the blogs that are so focused on health they seem to forget that food should be a source of joy, not just après-Soulcycle fuel.

My goal with The New Baguette is to bridge these two mindsets. My aim is to share recipes that meet at the intersection of delicious and health-conscious, tapping into my Ukrainian background and French influences along the way. I hope to inspire people to be realistically healthy – not perfect.

I’ve been thinking about this change for many months now and have spent many hours contemplating if it is the right thing to do. Now that it’s all said and done, I feel confident that indeed, it was! As always, I want to thank you for following me on this journey, and I’m so excited for what’s to come next.

See you soon!