Olia Hercules on Alla Horska, Ukrainian painter
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"Cooking is like therapy to us. I grew up where my big extended family would come together in summer under the walnut tree. The adults would drink and we’d eat, stories would be told and we'd break into song. It was a healing process."
In the first of a new series, the cookbook author Olia Hercules tells us why she's picked the Ukrainian artist and activist Alla Horska as her Great Life. A member of the Sixtiers, Alla was a part of the Ukrainian dissident movement of writers, artists and cultural figures who stood against the destruction of Ukrainian identity and rallied for greater freedoms.
Growing up in Ukraine, Olia says she was taught so much about Russian culture, and so little about Ukrainian culture, that she wanted to fix that. Now in a time of war, Olia discovers how parts of Alla's life mirror her own. Joining her in studio is Tetyana Filevska, creative director of the Ukrainian Institute. Tetyana moved to London to escape the war in Ukraine.
Future guests in the series include writer Olivia Laing on Christopher Lloyd, Bob Harris on Sir Matt Busby, and Noddy Holder on Chuck Berry.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Caitlin Hobbs
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself. |
| 0:03.7 | My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts. |
| 0:08.4 | I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with a leading journalist, experienced |
| 0:12.2 | pundits and the biggest sport stars. |
| 0:14.3 | Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players' |
| 0:18.5 | mouths. |
| 0:19.5 | But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is our unique access to the sport world. |
| 0:25.0 | What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to |
| 0:28.8 | dedicated sports fans across the UK. |
| 0:31.2 | So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more. |
| 0:40.6 | Today, my guest is the Ukrainian cookbook author and activist, |
| 0:44.8 | Olya Hercules. Born in Ukraine, this year she co-founded the Cook for Ukraine campaign, |
| 0:51.7 | cooking for others as a means of supporting people who are victims of the conflict. |
| 0:57.2 | Olya, it's been a hard year, obviously. How have you been, you personally? |
| 1:02.4 | I think very similarly to most Ukrainians, extremely up and down, but defiant and drawing on |
| 1:13.2 | limitless inner resources, it seems. It's surprising what humans can adapt to. |
| 1:19.6 | And you've been able to think about food and cooking rather than just war, war, war? |
| 1:27.4 | Not at first. For the first three months, I couldn't eat and actually I actually lost the |
| 1:32.7 | ability to cook, which was extremely worrying because before the war, whenever there was |
| 1:40.8 | any kind of feelings of sorrow or distress, I would turn to cooking as therapy. |
| 1:48.3 | But when the war started, the trauma was so strong that I simply lost the ability to cook. |
| 1:53.7 | But as soon as my parents left the Kherson region, they evacuated and left for Europe, |
... |
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