Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina

Photograph: Pål Hansen

Olia Hercules was born in the south of Ukraine and at the age of 12 moved to Cyprus. After moving to the UK to study, she trained at the renowned Leith’s School of Food and Wine and then worked as a chef de partie in various restaurants, including Ottolenghi, and as a recipe developer before landing a book deal.  

Her first book, Mamushka, a cookbook that celebrates her own family recipes, won her the Observer’s Rising Star in Food award and went on to win the prestigious Fortnum and Mason Award for best debut cookbook.  

She has since written another three cookbooks, Summer Kitchens, Kaukasis, and more recently Home Foods.  

In 2022 Olia joined forces with Russian Chef extraordinaire,Alissa Timoshkina to start  #CookforUkraine, a global initiative to raise funds for those affected by the war in Ukraine.  

Olia’s awards include 50 Best (Champions of Change), the OFM Special Award for her work on #CookforUkraine, and she was included in Vogue UK’s list of top most influential women of the year 2022. 

Olia and Alissa will be hosting a joint campfire cooking demo at Summer Camp on Saturday 15th July at 2pm. It’s going to be amazing.