Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family Story, Interrupted Olia Hercules

About

War, exile, food and family thread through Olia Herculess luminous book Strong Rootswith a century of Ukrainian history told via four generations and a kitchen table. From Stalin-era deportations and the pressures of Russification to the 2022 occupation of her parents hometown, Hercules braids eyewitness testimony with the sensual memory of cookingthe tang of sour cherries, the discipline of borschto ask what home means when the ground keeps shifting.On stage, Hercules will reflect on how family stories carry a nations memory, how recipes become an archive that outlasts regimes, and where courage and hope are found amid grief. She will speak about Ukraine nowbelonging, identity and solidaritywhile sharing the textures and tastes that bind generations.As Olivia Potts of The Spectator notes: Strong Roots looks back over four generations of a family for whom war and displacement have been familiar experiences. From her research into Ukrainian food, Hercules has hours of recorded interviews with relatives. From their voices a family saga emerges. The trauma she describes, both present and past, makes for moving, often painful reading. But the writing itself is a joy. Nigella Lawson also describes the book as 'An instant classic' and the world-leading Harvard historian of Ukraine - Serhii Plokhy notes: 'It is the roots that keep the trees from falling during a storm. Olia Hercules tells us that the same is true for people and nations'Strong Roots is memoir as resistanceintimate, honest and life-affirminga story written to heal, to bear witness and to help us understand.Olia Hercules is a Ukrainian-born, London-based cook, writer and campaigner whose booksMamushka (Fortnum & Mason Debut winner), Kaukasis, Summer Kitchens, Home Food and the new Strong Rootsbraid recipes with family history, place and resilience. Trained at Leiths after an early stint in journalism and kitchens including Ottolenghi, she co-created \#CookForUkraine and has been featured in FT Weekend Magazine, Observer Food Monthly, BBC Good Food, Vogue, Bon Apptit, Cond Nast Traveller and The Spectator, with widespread newspaper coverage across The Guardian/Observer, Financial Times, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. She speaks compellingly about belonging, exile and the ties that hold families together.A Q&A session will follow.