A Cap and a Stem

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is a journalist and culinary superintendent at sialababamak.pl. Monika likes to bring words, flavours and people together. She helps foreigners learn about Poland from the tastiest side. She also creates culinary spectacles in which she encourages participants to eat leftovers, breathe in the smells of the basement, and sprinkle food with golden dust.

Go mushroom hunting! We encourage all to go to the forest (not only vegetarians and ancient Slavic culture aficionados).

First take a healthy walk; later cook and taste. It’s pure magic. Who among us has never imagined a gnome underneath a handsome blusher? Mushrooms are among the most fairy-tale-like things in nature, as far as I’m concerned – they place somewhere between rainbow, coral and the Northern Lights. Going deep into the forest, or taking ‘a forest bath’ (from Japanese shinrin-yoku, which is officially a medicinal practice there!), you find all of those delectable protrusions, swellings and oozy caps. Erotic associations are obvious, especially when thinking about truffles with their musky animal scent and fame as an aphrodisiac (a reputation that they share with all luxury food). Among the people fascinated by mushrooms was

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Monika Kucia:

is a journalist and culinary superintendent at sialababamak.pl. Monika likes to bring words, flavours and people together. She helps foreigners learn about Poland from the tastiest side. She also creates culinary spectacles in which she encourages participants to eat leftovers, breathe in the smells of the basement, and sprinkle food with golden dust.

Translation: Jan Dzierzgowski

Publish date: 13.09.2018

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Jarosław Dumanowski:

A Polish historian. He is interested in, among other things, the history of cuisine, dietetics, and dietary trends. He was born in 1967.

Magdalena Kasprzyk-Chevriaux:

By education a lawyer, by passion a publicist and culinary activist. Specializes in the history of food and gastronomy.

People eat less than they used to. Not necessarily in terms of quantity, but of diversity, with merely a few plants constituting 80% of our diet. This is unprecedented! Professor Jarosław Dumanowski talks with Magdalena Kasprzyk-Chevriaux about the foods we have forgotten and the importance of our culinary roots.

Jarosław Dumanowski: They say that every 50 years, mankind loses half of its knowledge about nutrition. Such estimates aren’t of course strict, but they provide us with some insight into how acute this problem is.

Also read:

Foraging for Forgotten Foods

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