Olia Hercules

Hello friends, it's been two years since I launched The Food That Makes Us on this platform. It has grown into a community, I got to know so many of you. The team has grown too. I now have Maria Luniw who helps with day to day running of things (I couldn't manage without her), Kie Cummings aka Task at Hand and Kie's wonderful team. Ukraine aid element Kie's partner Natalia is Ukrainian, and both of them have been involved in numerous projects that help Ukrainian communities in a meaningful way. So it feels good to employ and support people who care and support Ukraine. I have been able to also provide support to numerous projects and fund-raisers. Initially this platform helped support 15 people (my father's employees) remaining in Kakhovka, and now that most of them have had to leave, we have been helping with dad's minesweeper project. Without you, and your support, none of the above could have been possible. Content We have now got over 40 cookery class recordings, from dumplings to fermentation to honey cake. And there are over 60 high-quality videos of me showing you how to make all the Ukrainian classics (borsch, holubtsi, nudli, bograzc, Paska) and so much more. It feels good to be able to preserve and promote this important part of Ukrainian culture. There is also The Writing Club with videos of me talking about food writing, publishing a cookbook, food styling. This has now morphed into monthly interviews about food writing with food writers that I admire (Rachel Roddy, Caroline Eden, Ed Smith and others). This will be turned into a podcast in December and I will be resuming the work on this, the next series will be centred around Culture and Community. It feels exciting to develop this community and I am very grateful for your support here. Everyone who is joining for free - welcome, and I hope you enjoy it too. If you have an opportunity to do a "blitz support" (where you support for a month and then go back to "free" if you cannot afford to support continuously), we would all massively appreciate it! All my love and Slava Ukrayini! Olia