Gastronomic Truth
Running a good restaurant is not a business, but a profession; it's a challenge and pleasure at the same time. Baking undecent bread is treason against bread, selling bad bread is treason against bread, eating bad when you know it is bad, is also treason against bread.
Even such ideas can be read on the blog of Tamás B. Molnár, who is considered the savior of Hungarian cuisine. In 2008 he wrote a call for the reform of Hungarian cuisine and thus pushed it among the world's elite. When you ask how, I can answer in two words: intransigence and perseverance. “Hungarian cuisine is not a backpack, the contents of which generations carry without changes; you must always look at what is inside, and whatever is already spoiled or doesn't belong there should be thrown out.” In Slovakia we have already started saying that it would be good if quality products returned to store shelves; even more than 40 percent of respondents desire this and are willing to pay well for them. However, discussions on Slovak gastronomy have not even begun.
The prevailing opinion among experts is that we are good, and if we wanted to, we could achieve everything. But the reality is that we are as far from the world cuisine as Fabia from Rolls Royce.
Simply, there is no respect for fresh ingredients, or knowledge, no educational system. Fresh ingredients are the foundation of every cuisine. Seasonal ingredients ensure its diversity. Good cuisine has foundational knowledge, one just simply has to learn.
The belief that it is enough to just show up on the T.V. screen, declare that I'm a good cook, and write a book, is wrong. Humility also belongs to the size of the personality.
Education. It is useless to say that there will be good secondary schools, because there won't. There are not enough teachers, not enough knowledge, and this won't change so soon. We should establish a college of gastronomy (like everywhere else in the developed world) to begin to educate the elite, and invite the world's teachers, because the idea that we have our own Slovak way is absolutely incorrect.
Why am I writing this? Because I believe that gastro culture belongs to modern society. In Slovakia there is a currently prevailing mood that we have a lot of good restaurants, everything is fine and there is no need to change anything. But my opinion is such that everything must change within Slovak gastronomy. The question is whether the fanatics who can initiate this will be found.
