How can we promote regional cuisine these days when there are plenty of restaurants all around us offering dishes from all over the world?
M.P.: The trend of High Catering / Fine Dining Cuisine has for years put an ideology of focusing on the products and recipes that are around us. I've always believed that putting a lot of constraints on yourself results in an enhanced creative process.
Why should I serve passion fruit or avocado in this part of the world when I can get the best sea buckthorn or wonderful beech nuts here ? That's a question we've been asking ourselves at White Rabbit for many years.
The collection of our creative processes on a narrowed range of products results in a style that can confidently be called New Polish Cuisine. Of course, this requires a lot of dedicated time and a lot of testing, because who will bring you calamus root from the Żuławy region between April and May? On the other hand, this contribution of one's own efforts and time gives a lot of satisfaction, as it builds one's own distinctiveness as a national or regional cuisine. Personally, I have not heard of anyone in the world making ice cream from calamus root.
This is the answer to the question: you have to stand out in terms of taste and creativity, because good taste is always important in the kitchen.
How can you create excitement and good experiences by celebrating meals based on sustainability?
M.P.: Visitors to our restaurant don't come here just to eat, they come to broaden their taste horizons. They can get a beef tenderloin steak or a well-grilled salmon anywhere, and emotionally it will be another meal they have satisfied their hunger with.
But, when you serve them Polish quail stuffed with Kashubian leber with elderflower or Kashubian-style herring AD.2019, the textures and flavours of which have been pushed to the maximum, in which a whole range of modern cooking techniques have been used to influence what it looks like, they place this common dish in the canons of Modern Polish Cuisine. You automatically stimulate an emotion in them that is a mixture of local patriotism, national pride and give them an incredible taste sensation, while telling them a story that catches their heart. I think that's a good recipe for emotion.
Can a properly composed cuisine improve our wellbeing, i.e. influence our wellbeing?
M.P.: Food generally improves the mood, we often take care of sorrows, when we celebrate, we also eat. Food has always been associated with strong emotions. I believe that people who are not afraid of new flavours, who expand their culinary tastes, are happier. This simple aspect related to cuisine is a litmus test for the ability to make difficult decisions in personal life or business, but that's just my observation, I'm just cooking here.
interview for SB WELL
