Olia Hercules

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Photograph: Joe Woodhouse

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Agent: Ariella Feiner

Ariella Feiner

Assistant: Amber Garvey

AGarvey@unitedagents.co.uk

Books

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"My favourite sort of cookbook. . . this is a rich gift of a book for which this mamushka is very grateful!" - Nigella Lawson

“The hottest new voice in food” – delicious. magazine

Olia Hercules was born in Ukraine and lived in Cyprus before moving to the UK to study a BA in Italian, followed by an MA in Russian and English. She worked as a reporter for Screen International before her interest in food as an amateur reached its apogee and she decided to retrain to be a chef at Leith's School of Food and Wine. She kicked off her culinary career working at Fulham's Union Market with Aaron Craze before landing her dream job as chef-de-partie at Ottolenghi's. After having her son, and filming for The Food Network, Olia began writing for Sainsbury's, The Recipe Kit, and The Guardian.

Olia was awarded the Observer's Rising Star in Food Award 2015. Her debut book Mamushka was a bestseller and won the Best Debut Food Book award at the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards, and was shortlisted for an André Simon Award and a Guild of Food Writers Award. Following 2020's Summer Kitchens, Olia’s fourth book, Home Food: Recipes to Comfort and Connect published with Bloomsbury in July 2022. Olia, along with her #CookforUkraine's co-founder, Alissa Timoshkina, won the 2022 Observer Food Monthly's Editor's Award and the 2023 Guild of Food Writer's Special Award

HOME FOOD (Bloomsbury)

Shortlisted for the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards

Independent's Best Cookbook of 2022

Waitrose Magazine's Book of the Year 2022

A Jamie Oliver's Cookbook Club pick for August

100 comforting recipes that unite us no matter where we are from and where we end up

In her most personal book yet, Olia Hercules distills a lifetime of kitchen curiosity into her 100 most loved recipes. She draws on her broad influences from all the places she has called home: her childhood in Ukraine; her years in Cyprus and Italy; her simple, plant-centric family meals in London; and the special festive recipes she has gleaned along the way.

The recipes are nostalgic like Potatoes of my Childhood, they are trade secrets like Pasta with Confit Garlic, they interweave every day like Joe's Beetroot, Cornichon, Feta and Potatoes, and they make everything okay like Life-giving Rhubarb Cake.

These recipes have been hand written, handed down and shared among friends. Dotted with vignettes from fellow chefs and food writers that explore different meanings and associations of home, this charming and extremely personal book from Olia offers irresistible recipes, charming storytelling and boundless heart.

Praise for HOME FOOD

'Heartfelt storytelling and truly beautiful, honest food.' Jamie Oliver

'Original, thought-provoking, beautiful. A wonderful book.' Diana Henry

'This beautiful book makes me feel I'm in Olia's kitchen, which is just as much a joy as the exquisite but simple recipes.' Nigella Lawson

‘It thoroughly deserves a place on every cook’s shelf.’ The Independent

'This is my favourite kind of cookbook: the useful kind full of solid ideas, stunning photos, beautiful writing and personal stories - the kind where the pages will quickly get dog-eared from regular use.' Ravinder Bhogal

'This is a fabulous book [...] It will enable home cooks to produce extraordinary dishes which will become staples not just for our families, but for future generations.' Henry Dimbleby

'Olia is not only an excellent and ingenious cook but is also a brilliantly exciting writer. Our understanding of the hugely diverse and endlessly fascinating culinary universe is richer every time she puts pen to paper.' Andi Oliver

'It is impossible not to fall in love with Olia's cooking and writing - her warmth, good sense and good taste absolutely glows from the pages of her book.' Itamar Srulovic

'A wonderful mix of cuisines, there are fascinating stories and memories behind each dish.' Fiona Forman, BBC Good Food

'Sure to please home cooks everywhere.' Delicious

'In her latest beautiful cookbook, Olia Hercules weaves a thread between food, family, community and memory.' Harpers Bazaar

'It is Olia's celebration of the emotive ways that food can create a sense of home, regardless of whether that might be in Ukraine, the UK, or anywhere else.' Diana Henry, Waitrose Weekend

'Rooted in place, family, flavour, this is food for sharing, saturated in stories and emotion.' Observer Food Monthly

Praise for Olia Hercules

'Olia Hercules, a born storyteller, has travelled through Georgia, Azerbaijan and beyond, and has brought back dazzling recipes... The writing is moving, and Elena Heatherwick's photography wonderfully evocative and intelligent.' Telegraph

'Exotic, earthy dishes, vibrant colours, big flavours. This is real cooking, written about with so much love.' Diana Henry

'A sensitive, personal journey expressed through the beauty of food - just wonderful.' Jamie Oliver

'Olia Hercules is a storyteller-foodwriter, and a wholly original voice in the kitchen - there's not a recipe of hers I don't want to cook immediately.' Nigella Lawson

'Finally. Been waiting for this book all year. mamushka by @oliahercules will be *the* book of 2015. Stunning.' Dan Doherty

'Gorgeous #Mamushka by @OliasGastronomy SO interesting! Ukrainian, Moldovian, Georgian recipes & more!' Sabrina Ghayour

'Going to make lots of these dishes.' Henry Dimbleby

'So beautiful.' Dan Lepard

'Wow!' Thane Prince

'Olia Hercules's Kaukasis... is a wonderful mix of regional history, family stories and astonishingly colourful recipes from Georgia, Azerbaikan and Armenia. Recipes include...a dumpling broth not so quick to make, but soulfully good.' Rose Prince, The Spectator.

'While capturing the differences between the cooking of the various countries of the Caucasus, Hercules argues that the culture of the region is intertwined and that this is seen in food. Her flavours are both exciting and soothing.' Bee Wilson, for The Guardian's Best Books on Food of 2017

'A beautiful, often lyrical journey around the Caucasus, Georgia, Azerbajian and beyond, Hercules takes the reader to lands way beyond the usual culinary beat. The pictures are sumptuous, the stories fascinating, and the recipes exotic and homely.' Tom Parker Bowles, for Mail On Sunday's picks for The Year's Best Reads (2017)

'Olia Hercules has single-handedly brought the cooking of the Caucasus to the radar: Kaukasis, her latest, has dishes from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan which are a revelation in flavours.' Melanie McDonagh for Evening Standard's Best Cookbooks of 2017

'I confess I think i have a slight crush on Olia Hercules, well at least on her cooking. Her Mamushka cookbook. . . is a handsomely produced work of well-crafted recipes (who knew beetroot broth could look so beautiful?) Highly recommended.' Observer Food Monthly

'Packed full of vibrant Ukranian recipes, Olia Hercules. . . will enchant your kitchen this summer.' Grazia

'Each recipe has a story, making this a fascinating read as well as a stunning cookbook.' BBC Good Food

'Ukrainian born chef Olia Hercules has been hailed as the new Ottolenghi.' Town & Country magazine

'If the cooking of the Caucasian region isn't yet on your radar, it soon will be. (...) These gorgeous, flavour-packed recipes will give you a taste of what you've been missing.' delicious. magazine

'Hercules transforms the “unknown” into an accessible, beautiful and in many instances a mouthwatering cuisine.' The Independent

Non-Fiction

Publication Details	Notes
SUMMER KITCHENS 2020 Bloomsbury	Olia Hercules owes some of her earliest and fondest memories to the 'summer kitchens' of her parents, grandparents, neighbours and friends in Ukraine. These small buildings are separate from the main house, and always positioned near a fruit plot or veg patch so families can enjoy the home-grown produce as it ripens, and preserve the surplus in preparation for winter. The number of summer kitchens is dwindling these days, but there is still so much we can learn about making the most of the vibrant summer produce throughout the rest of the year. Summer Kitchens contains recipes such as Borsch with duck and smoked pears, Burnt aubergine butter and tomato toast, Pot roast chicken with herb crème fraîche, Nettle, sorrel and wild garlic soup and Poppyseed babka. With beautiful photography and writing on the people and lush landscapes of Ukraine, this book will transport you to idyllic summer kitchens past and present.
MAMUSHKA 2015 Mitchell Beazley	MAMUSHKA: MAMUSHKA is a celebration of the food and flavours of the "Wild East" - from the Black Sea to Baku and Armenia to Azerbaijan, with over 100 recipes for fresh, flavourful and unexpected dishes from across the region. From the Moldovan giant cheese twist and Ukrainian buns with potatoes & shallots to Garlicky Georgian poussins with spicy plum chutney and Armenian pickled wet garlic; to Napoleon cake, Wasp nest buns and Apricot & sour cherry pie. To top it off, why not enjoy a digestif of Winter punch or Blackcurrant vodka? Olia Hercules will entice you with evocative new flavours and ingredient combinations that will leave you asking yourself why you haven't been eating Ukrainian food all your life!

Publication Details

Notes

SUMMER KITCHENS

2020

Bloomsbury

Olia Hercules owes some of her earliest and fondest memories to the 'summer kitchens' of her parents, grandparents, neighbours and friends in Ukraine. These small buildings are separate from the main house, and always positioned near a fruit plot or veg patch so families can enjoy the home-grown produce as it ripens, and preserve the surplus in preparation for winter.

The number of summer kitchens is dwindling these days, but there is still so much we can learn about making the most of the vibrant summer produce throughout the rest of the year. Summer Kitchens contains recipes such as Borsch with duck and smoked pears, Burnt aubergine butter and tomato toast, Pot roast chicken with herb crème fraîche, Nettle, sorrel and wild garlic soup and Poppyseed babka.

With beautiful photography and writing on the people and lush landscapes of Ukraine, this book will transport you to idyllic summer kitchens past and present.

MAMUSHKA

2015

Mitchell Beazley

MAMUSHKA:

MAMUSHKA is a celebration of the food and flavours of the "Wild East" - from the Black Sea to Baku and Armenia to Azerbaijan, with over 100 recipes for fresh, flavourful and unexpected dishes from across the region. From the Moldovan giant cheese twist and Ukrainian buns with potatoes & shallots to Garlicky Georgian poussins with spicy plum chutney and Armenian pickled wet garlic; to Napoleon cake, Wasp nest buns and Apricot & sour cherry pie. To top it off, why not enjoy a digestif of Winter punch or Blackcurrant vodka? Olia Hercules will entice you with evocative new flavours and ingredient combinations that will leave you asking yourself why you haven't been eating Ukrainian food all your life!