The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been going on for around 200 days when I sit down for tea with Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina, founders of #CookForUkraine and winners of a special OFM Editor’s Award, at Timoshkina’s house in north London. “It’s 201,” corrects Hercules, as if she has the days scratched on a wall at home.
“They have been the longest months of my life,” continues Hercules, who was born in Ukraine and has written four cookbooks on eastern European food. “I’m just reading about trauma and vicarious trauma and they say time actually slows down for you so much when you’re going through traumatic events. Every day, it’s just been … It’s been long.”
