Olia Hercules
Olia Hercules is the author Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family Story through War, Exile and Hope.
It is the story of a century in Ukraine told through four generations of her family, taking us from years
of Russification to her own parents’ flights from Ukraine when their town was occupied in 2022.
Olia was born in Khakovka, in the South of Ukraine. She studied Italian and International
Relations at the University of Warwick. After spending a year in Italy, Olia settled in London.
She would later quit her job to pursue her dream to cook for a living.
Olia trained at the renowned Leiths School of Food and Wine, then worked as a chef de partie in
restaurants, including Ottolenghi, and as a recipe developer before landing a book deal for
Mamushka, her first cookbook documentating family recipes. It won the prestigious Fortnum
and Mason Aware for best debut cookbook in 2016 and was named the Observer’s Rising Star in 2015.
Olia takes inspiration from her heritage to inform her style of cooking and the direction of her
career. Mamushka was followed by Kaukasis, Summer Kitchens, and Home Food.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Olia also co-founded a global initiative to raise
money for Ukraine through cooking, #CookForUkraine, with her friend Alissa Timoshkina, which has
raised over £2 million pounds to date.
She lives with her husband, food writer and photographer, Joe Woodhouse, and two sons in
London.
Speaking at
Olia Hercules is the author Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family Story through War, Exile and Hope.
It is the story of a century in Ukraine told through four generations of her family, taking us from years
of Russification to her own parents’ flights from Ukraine when their town was occupied in 2022.
Olia was born in Khakovka, in the South of Ukraine. She studied Italian and International
Relations at the University of Warwick. After spending a year in Italy, Olia settled in London.
She would later quit her job to pursue her dream to cook for a living.
Olia trained at the renowned Leiths School of Food and Wine, then worked as a chef de partie in
restaurants, including Ottolenghi, and as a recipe developer before landing a book deal for
Mamushka, her first cookbook documentating family recipes. It won the prestigious Fortnum
and Mason Aware for best debut cookbook in 2016 and was named the Observer’s Rising Star in 2015.
Olia takes inspiration from her heritage to inform her style of cooking and the direction of her
career. Mamushka was followed by Kaukasis, Summer Kitchens, and Home Food.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Olia also co-founded a global initiative to raise
money for Ukraine through cooking, #CookForUkraine, with her friend Alissa Timoshkina, which has
raised over £2 million pounds to date.
She lives with her husband, food writer and photographer, Joe Woodhouse, and two sons in
London.
