An Afternoon with Renowned Chef & Author Olia Hercules

A Special Guest Event: An Afternoon with Olia Hercules. The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art is honored to welcome Olia Hercules, celebrated cookbook author, food writer, and passionate advocate for Ukrainian culinary heritage, for an intimate afternoon conversation and book presentation.

Hercules will speak about her new book, Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family Story through War, Exile and Hope, a deeply personal work that traces her family's journey and the enduring power of food, memory, and identity across generations of hardship and resilience.

This is a rare opportunity to meet one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Ukrainian culture. Join us for a conversation that is as much about history and hope as it is about cooking. A Q&A will follow the discussion. Free and open to the public.

Olia Hercules is visiting the city of Chicago as an esteemed nominee for the James Beard Award Ceremony on Saturday, June 13, and the official nominees' ceremony on Sunday morning, June 14.

Strong Roots is the story of a century in Ukraine told through four generations of one extraordinary family. It takes us from years of Russification, to Olia's grandmother's deportation to snowy wastelands under Stalin, to her Aunt Zhenia's school protest, to her own parents' flight from Ukraine when their town was occupied in 2022.

‘An instant classic’ – Nigella Lawson. ‘Sweeping, intimate, defiant and brimming with love’ – Louise Kennedy. ‘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’ – Serhii Plokhy.

About the author: Olia Hercules was born in the south of Ukraine in 1984. She left her home town Kakhovka at the age of twelve, when she moved to Cyprus. After finishing school, she moved to the UK where she studied Italian language and International Relations at the University of Warwick.

Following the financial crisis of 2008, Olia decided to quit her job as a film business reporter to pursue her dream to cook for a living. She trained at the renowned Leiths School of Food and Wine and worked as a chef de partie in restaurants, including Ottolenghi, before landing a book deal for Mamushka, a cookbook celebrating her family recipes, which won the Fortnum and Mason Award for best debut cookbook 2016. Olia was named the Observer Rising Star of 2015. Her second cookbook, Kaukasis, is a culinary journey through Georgia, Azerbaijan and beyond.