An award-winning chef, Olia Hercules was born in Kakhovka in the south of Ukraine and now lives in the UK after moving here to study. She trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine and has written four recipe books including her acclaimed debut, Mamushka (2015). In response to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Olia co-founded a global initiative to raise money for her country through cooking, #CookForUkraine, which has raised over £2m to date. Her family memoir, Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family History Through War, Exile and Hope, was described by Nigella Lawson as “an instant classic” and is out now in paperback (Bloomsbury). She lives with her husband and two sons in London.

Die Wand (The Wall) by Marlen Haushofer

Written between 1962 and 1965, The Wall is an eco-apocalyptic tale from a female perspective. A woman goes to the Austrian Alps with her relatives, they leave for a drink at a pub in town, she stays behind at the lodge. The next morning she discovers that she (and a bunch of animals) seem to be the only ones left alive after an unknown, quietly cataclysmic event, and an invisible wall now surrounds the forest where she is staying. Multitudes of meaning within this book, but it is Haushofer’s use of language that blew my mind. Every sentence is seemingly simple, straightforward, calm, but all of the sentences together stir up an existential storm in one’s chest.

Takflix

Get off Netflix, discover Takflix – a Ukrainian indie film streaming service where 50% of the platform’s revenue goes to Ukrainian film-makers. Most films are subtitled, and you can find recent documentaries, shorts, animation and avant-garde classics. A soul-enriching way to learn about Ukrainian and eastern European culture. I have been rewatching all of the old Ukrainian classics, such as Serhiy Parajanov's avant-garde epic Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, which depicts the life of Ukrainian highlanders in the 19th century, as well as his The Colour of Pomegranates and Oleksandr Dovzhenko's Earth. All of these films have surrealist elements: each frame is a masterpiece. If something lighter is needed, I loved My Thoughts Are Silent, about a young sound engineer who is given a job to record animal sounds in Transcarpathia, and his complicated relationship with his mum.

Sam Lee’s Singing with Nightingales

I am looking forward to Singing with Nightingales this spring: an interactive event where we will listen to rare folk songs around the fire and share stories, and then set off into a midnight forest to listen to nightingales sing. Other gigs/music which I cannot recommend enough are Cosmo Sheldrake and DakhaBrakha (both use nature sounds in their music), and genius Polish composer Hania Rani. Listen to her ethereal tracks Dancing with Ghosts or Kyiv right now.

Culture as Security: How Culture Protects Us

(British Library, 19 February)

I go to a lot of talks, especially culture or psychology. I’m looking forward to this conversation next week at the British Library on how culture sustains and provokes societies. It is hosted by Kirsty Lang and I am excited to hear all three speakers: the Ukrainian writer with Afghan roots Mariam Naiem, who does a lot of important work on decolonisation of Ukrainian culture; the Sudanese writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied, as I want to know more about Sudan's culture; and Charlotte Higgins, who has written Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a Time of War (out later this year). An important conversation we could all benefit from.

40 Maltby Street, London SE1

My all-time favourite restaurant is 40 Maltby Street. Incredible wine, and even better food. Head chef Steve Williams’s cooking is the kind I love the most:  the best quality seasonal ingredients, masterful techniques, but not overcomplicated. Food looks beautiful but every bite is so full of soul, like an archetypal grandmother of the world cooked it for you! Even something as simple as a bitter leaf salad is prepared with such tenderness, it stays with you. During our recent visit, I had their home-cured pork belly and fennel and grilled January King cabbage with mushrooms and sour cream and paprika sauce. Every bite felt like coming home.