It’s Slow Food season in Kraków, as the Slow Chef Festival begins!

Beginning June 5th, some of the top Kraków chefs will be meeting over the course of five months at Targ Pietruszkowy (Parsley Market), one of Slow Food Earth Markets, to promote good, clean and fair food.

Slow Chef Festival is the newest initiative of Slow Food Kraków convivium and Targ Pietruszkowy Slow Food community. From June to October the market will host live cooking events, each performed by two chefs dedicated to Slow Food values. They will prepare dishes using solely the products available from the farmers and producers selling at Targ Pietruszkowy – Kraków Earth Market.

“Our goal is to build bridges between producers of good, clean and fair food and representatives of the gastronomy sector as well as to promote ideas of Slow Food in the local community of Kraków – says Szymon Gatlik, leader of Slow Food Kraków. It will be very seasonal and local cooking, but also with a strong and important message, as products used are made in a sustainable way, with respect to nature and its biodiversity.”

A roster of chefs taking part in the Slow Chef Festival includes: Łukasz Cichy (Biała Róża restaurant), Michał Cienki (Assiette pastry workshop), Grzegorz Fic (Albertina Restaurant&Wine), Marcin Filipkiewicz (Copernicus restaurant), Paulina Gulajska (Dworek Gościnny in Szczawnica-Zdrój), Miłosz Kowalski (Halicka Eatery&Bar), Wiktor Kowalski (Solna 1 restaurant) and Marcin Sołtys (Filipa18 Food Wine Art). Soon more names will be announced.

“Working with top quality produce of known origin is pure joy for any chef – says Łukasz Cichy, head chef of the Biała Róża restaurant. – Furthermore, in the case of Targ Pietruszkowy market we also know the producers personally. This is a “guarantee seal” for us and translates into positive emotions in the kitchen. It is no secret that you need a lot of “heart” for food – from planting and growing, prepping and cooking, to serving it on a plate. This “heart” factor can be easily achieved thanks to great quality produce.”

All six events of the Slow Chef Festival will take place at the Targ Pietruszkowy market in Kraków, the only place in the city, where small, local farmers and producers sell their goods directly, without middlemen, in line with the farm-to-table philosophy. Thanks to its dedication to promoting sustainable farming Targ Pietruszkowy was invited by Slow Food International, as the only market in Poland, to join the Slow Food Earth Market network, currently consisting of 74 markets around the world.

“One of the goals of the Targ Pietruszkowy Foundation is to provide consumers with seasonal food of high quality, produced in a sustainable way, but also to make sure that our sellers, small-scale farmers and producers, receive fair prices for their work and dedication – says Karolina Jarmołowska, deputy president of the Foundation. – We also want to nurture collaboration between farmers and chefs and encourage them to work together, so that more seasonal products from our market are used in restaurant menus. This is great news for us that so many renowned chefs will have the opportunity to sample “parsley market” delicacies and use them for their own culinary creations.”

The first event of the Slow Chef Festival will take place on 5th June 2021 when the cooking stations will be taken over by Grzegorz Fic and Michał Cienki. The next event starring the chefs, a very special one, will take place on 3rd July and will be combined with the celebration of the 8th anniversary of Targ Pietruszkowy market, with more dates scheduled for August, September and October.

“Good, clean and fair food needs promoters and advocates – concludes Szymon Gatlik. – The participating chefs have played these roles for years in their restaurants and follow Slow Food philosophy in their daily work. This is why we are so excited about them coming to cook at Targ Pietruszkowy, where the words: local, seasonal and sustainable regain their true meaning and power. Join us at the Slow Chef Festival!”

Slow Chef Festival is supported by Slow Food International and co-financed by the LIFE programme of the European Union (through the Slow Food Europe Call for ideas 2021).

Multimedia:

Teaser of the festival (Polish): https://fb.watch/5Bcsd_sPYZ/

Promotional video (Polish): https://fb.watch/5BRy4pueB7/

Contact for the media:

Szymon Gatlik

[email protected]

tel. +48 797 018 770