Hi! My name is Lilia. I live in France with my husband Sean and our two sons. I grew up in Belarus, spent my twenties in Italy and then moved to the US. I write recipes and food stories about the places I know best in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, starting with my own family.
Growing up in Belarus, I spent summers in the countryside foraging for herbs in the fields, gathering mushrooms and stomping the hay in the neighbor’s barn to pack it up for winter. We made red currant jam by the bucketful and ate it with rye bread, a combination which inspired the name of this blog.
In Italy, I had the privilege of working for Slow Food in its early days. As the only Russian speaker on the team in the International Office, this brought me to Georgia, Armenia, Siberia, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, the Baltic countries and many more places. I traveled to meet yak breeders from Kyrgyzstan, mulberry producers from the Pamir mountains in Tajikistan, winemakers from the birthplace of the vine, Georgia, and scientists from one of the world’s largest seed banks in St. Petersburg. When it came time to plan the first Terra Madre, a meeting of 5,000 farmers and food communities from 150 countries, I was tasked with finding 700 farmers and food producers from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. I even had the chance to guide an expedition of Italian scientists along the Silk Road!
From my time living in the US, I have my wonderful American husband. My friend Sarah Weiner learned that the Center for Science in the Public Interest was looking for a campaign manager for the first national Food Day. I took up the challenge and moved to Washington, DC, for a short-term contract which grew into five years of amazing experience within the most inspiring food community.
We now live in France in the Jura mountains with our two sons, Leo and Max.
For a long time, I have been nurturing the idea of sharing the tastes and tales that I believe are among the best ways to experience the world. I hope you’ll enjoy reading!
Getting ready to milk yaks after a night spent in the yurt, hosted by nomadic yak breeders of Tuva, Siberia.