I don’t think in a box. Or a square. I think in space. Interactive creative space. It varies with experience, seasons, people, what's in the fridge, what mood I am in. It has only one rule. I like to call it common sense, and there are occasions when that can be excused too …
Food and cooking came to me as a profession and I must say it was some of the best encounters in my life. I didn't study it or dream of being a chef. It came out of necessity and my simple need for creative engagement in small spaces - sailboats. I love sailing and the free life-style of a "rusty cruiser" some 7 years ago, before I became a yachtie - crew on yachts. Apart from sailing, there is only a handful of things you can do on 37 feet boat. I got bored. And that is where it started. That is where we met. Me and my passion for creative, inventive, natural, healthy food. Right there, in the middle of the Pacific ocean, on 37 feet sailing boat, with no fridge and with 2 crazy kiwi brothers … Inspired mostly by what some would call a poor kitchens of the 3rd world. But the recipes, efficiency, invention and joy present in these spaces was worth more than you find in the finest super-yacht galley.
After 3 years, money ran out and I got a job on 75 yacht in Mediterranean as a cook for orthodox Jewish family out of New York. I thought to myself “worst case they fire me right, what can happen?” … I stayed 6 months … and then, other yachts came and I stayed … Addiction to ocean is permanently irreversible.
It must come from the way we were brought up (in, mind you, completely land-locked Czechoslovakia) before the country split up and I realized I live in Slovak Republic when i was 13 years old. We cook. Because we are hungry. What was the question again? Why we cook? … Well everyone does. There is always some grandma baking, or papa pickling gherkins, brother cleaning a fish or making hot cocoa, mama making jams and soups and stews and million other things in the same time. And it always smelled like home. We lived cramped in blocks of flats, like half of Europe does. An old Neighbor from 1st floor brings pie and slivovica, butcher from next door meat he got "rationed" at work, and slivovica, neighbor from top floor comes to borrow money cause he has 5 kids and my dad has him leave with hands full of pie and meat, cheerfully buzzed on slivovica (Czechoslovak traditional plum brandy/vodka). Absence of ‘fast food’ was surely a blessing. All of this and more from my sailing and travels and living in countries all around this amazing planet, all the kitchens I soaked up the perfumes and stories at, all the places I grew up to who I am today, all the flavors are what I do, and what I like to share and bring out to people: How to consider cooking as a social event as it still lovingly is in so many parts of the world, how to be curious and smart about it, how to be reasonable and study, forever and ever study and learn and explore all that comes your way, and before you say no, try saying yes first, and before you say yes, make your own research. Pass great traditions of the world on to your loved ones, so we preserve not only jams and pickles … And all of that with pure joy of sharing and community.
The intension is to inspire …