Speakers | National Geographic Traveller (UK) Food Festival

Alissa Timoshkina is a food writer, cookery teacher and historian specialising in Eastern European food culture. Her first cookbook, Salt & Time, was published in 2019, exploring her Siberian heritage — Ukrainian-Jewish and Polish on her mother’s side, and Ukrainian, Russian and Belorussian on her father’s side — through hundreds of dishes. It was a finalist for two Guild of Food Writers Awards and a Julia Child award. Kapusta, her second cookbook, published in February 2025, is an exploration of vegetable-forward recipes from Eastern Europe. Alongside writing, Alissa is the co-founder of the multi-award-winning global fundraising campaign #CookForUkraine, which has raised close to £2.5 million since its inception. She lives in north London with her partner and their two children.