Olia Hercules was born in Ukraine and lived in Cyprus for 5 years before moving to London to study a BA in Italian language, followed by an MA in Russian and English. A number of jobs followed before her interest in food as an amateur reached its apogee and she decided to retrain as a chef at Leith's School of Food and Wine. She kicked off her culinary career working at London's Union Market before landing her dream job as a chef-departie for Ottolenghi's. After having her son, and filming for The Food Network, Olia has been writing for Sainsbury's, The Recipe Kit, and the Guardian. Find out more about Olia at oliahercules.com and check out her latest video for the Guardian: http://goo.gl/D5V7Ry