FP: I could mention the growing interest in natural wines. A distributor I know told me that in the last year alone, the sales of such wines have tripled. I like the idea of collaborating in various culinary projects. For example: the Resto Bar Ogień in Pogorzany in Lesser Poland. Chefs from all around Poland head there. Together, they invent a menu and cook using products available on that day. This co-operation takes place in a very democratic way.
I also have to mention the idea of returning to old culinary techniques. In Resto Bar Ogień, which I visited recently, everything is cooked or roasted over an open fire. The relationship between cooks and scientists working on the history of cuisine, such as Professor Jarosław Dumanowski, are also very interesting. Many chefs are fascinated by old Polish cuisine and draw inspiration from it during the preparation of their own modern dishes. It’s an important phenomenon, but I haven’t studied its scope yet.
Another novelty worth mentioning is the so-called idea of food sovereignty, which says that local communities have the right to decide what to grow and how to do it. This involves the rediscovery of biodiversity thanks to the return to old varieties of local seeds, plants, vegetables and fruits and to the attempts to recreate, even partially, the local nutrition system. I noticed other trends even earlier, such as the interest in regional and traditional food. It’s becoming more visible now, because such products are more and more discussed and are beginning to appear on restaurant menus. I’d like to stress the successes of various food and taste festivals, during which there are discussions held about food: the European Festival of Taste in Lublin, the Festival of Taste in Poznań, or the Festival of Taste in Gruczno. This example shows how the interest in the local food transfers to the broader public, because every visitor can engage in direct contact with a producer.
MKC: What advice would you give the Polish gastronomy to become more noticeable abroad?
FP: The chefs and cooks won’t do much without the producers, distributors, media and people who consider food a part of culture. Without understanding its cultural capital, Polish cuisine will remain anonymous, even though many chefs have worked abroad and now run their own world-class restaurants that are not written about abroad. Thankfully, for the last few years, you have had the bilingual (Polish-English) Gault & Millau guide for Poland, but there remains a lot of work to be done.
Originally written in Polish, translated by MW, Nov 2018