Virtual Author Talk: Alissa Timoshkina, Lozhka

We are delighted to virtually welcome back London-based food writer, author, and historian Alissa Timoshkina for a virtual author talk and cooking demo on Thursday, October 22nd, to celebrate her new cookbook Lozhka: Eastern European Soups, Stews & Other Things We Eat with a Spoon! In her latest work, Alissa celebrates Eastern Europe through 80 soulful recipes for seasonal soups, stews, and porridges, weaving together storytelling and traditions into a vibrant portrait of food, memory, and belonging. Join us live on Teams as Alissa cooks a recipe from the book followed by audience Q&A.

How this works: This event will be broadcast live on Microsoft Teams. Registering HERE will provide you with a unique access link in an email. At the event time, click that link to watch the talk. During the event, feel free to ask questions using the Teams Q&A feature.

This author talk is FREE, but you can support it by purchasing a signed copy of the book here. Thank you!

About the book:

In Lozhka, award-winning writer and co-founder of #CookforUkraine, Alissa Timoshkina, celebrates Eastern Europe through one of its most humble and powerful symbols: the spoon. Blending soulful recipes with rich storytelling, she brings together history, memory, and cooking in a portrait of the region that is both deeply comforting and strikingly contemporary.

From herb-scented soups and hearty grain stews to pillowy dumplings and custard-soaked desserts, each dish carries a sense of meaning, memory, and belonging. Drawing on a wide range of traditions, including Ukrainian, Jewish, Tatar, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, and Roma, among others, Lozhka reveals a borderless cuisine shaped by resilience and generosity.

Vibrant, vegetable-forward, and full of smoky, tangy, and creamy flavors, these recipes are made for today’s kitchens while honoring centuries of tradition. More than a cookbook, Lozhka is a journey through kitchens, cultures, and shared histories—an invitation to slow down, gather around, and savor the stories carried in every spoonful.

About the author:

Alissa Timoshkina is a London-based food writer, cookbook author and historian specialising in the culinary culture of Eastern Europe. Born in Siberia with Ashkenazi and Eastern Slavic roots, her family history is a defining ingredient in her cooking and writing. Alissa moved to the UK in the late 1990s to study, later completing a PhD in Soviet culture and Holocaust history. Ultimately, her love of cooking pulled her away from academia, and in 2015 she founded the supper club and catering company KinoVino, which she ran until 2020. 

She is the author Salt & Time (2019) and Kapusta (2025), which won the André Simon Special Commendation Award, and writes the Substack newsletter In Her Hands. In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Alissa co-founded the global fundraising campaign #CookForUkraine with her friend, chef and writer, Olia Hercules, raising over £2.5 million for humanitarian relief and receiving multiple international awards. Alissa lives in North London with her partner and their two children. Lozhka is her third cookbook. @alissatimoshkina