My personal highlights: Joining food workshops where to explore origins of ingredients, combined with an experimental Indonesian dinner and a live presentation by one of my favorite Chefs: Josep Roca from Spain at Chefalps 2019.
A huge privilege for all food lovers in Zurich is the month of May, when the city enchants itself into a food adventure destination.
No matter if haute cuisine or street food: from 16 to 26 May, Zurich once again the city transformed itself into a place full of culinary temptations. The program included more than 100 events covering aspects of Wining & Dining.
My food experiences included a spice mix workshop held by the Swiss company laromi, an experimental authentic Indonesian dinner that throw me back to this wonderful place on earth with spicy and strong flavors organized by the catering Sendokgarpu & the soydivision Berlin. The cherry on the top came with the international Cooking Summit Chefalps, that for the first time took place during Food Zurich this year.
How to choose out your personal food experiences
It’s kind of a difficult mission to pick the food experience of your choice. For myself I found it best to mix workshops, where to learn by hands-on how to prepare dishes. I added a dinner, where to lean back and relax . There are several price ranges for these events, some are even for free, others go from 25 CHF up to a fee of 150 CHF for example.
Laromi Salt workshop
A young team of entrepreneurs hast the goal to offer best salts, spice blends, teas and oils. All of them without any artificial additives. At the workshop we got presented the variety of herbs and salts that can be mixed together to a very own blend. I named my black Hawaiian salt HANI which means “happy” in Hawaiian language. Get more of this company here.
Taste of Indonesia: Pairing two senses: dinner & experimental music
I am grateful for that throw back to my favorite nation Indonesia thanks to Ayu Andrila Utami owner of the company SendokGarpu and Ariel Orah from SoyDivision. Ayu and Ariel are friends from their school time back in Jakarta. Ariel is a fantastic artist, he organizes series of pop up experiences, where innovative Indonesian food inspired suppers meet experimental music live performance. We enjoyed a very special 5 course menu prepared of mainly local ingredients by Indonesian cooks.
The menu started with a soup made of sheep and coconut milk and Indonesian spices. As a toping tender pieces of beef and a delicious potato ball. My absolute favorite dish you don’t easily get in Zurich came next: tempeh (typical Indonesian product made of a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a form).
Further on the menu: braised eggplants perfectly spiced that came on rice. Sounds simple but absolutely tasty. The main course included chicken with basil, turmeric and holy spices from Sulawesi. Our dessert came accompanied by Ariels experimental performance: Sweet potato balls with palm sugar and a Fior di Latte ice cream. MAGIC!
Ending my Food Zurich Experience with a very personal highlight: a meet & greet with Chef Josep Roca from Spain
The terms that best describe what I experienced at this year’s Chef Alps Cooking Summit during FOOD ZURICH are: Elegance, mindpower, creativity and sustainability! The two top Chefs Heiko Antoniewicz and Adrien Hurnungee presented their research project “Cooking with ashes“. It includes innovative techniques and still undiscovered tastes such as brimstone chips! Did you know that ash draws water from the food and condenses the aroma, has an antimicrobial effect and generates nearly zero food waste? My absolute attraction on the stage: Chef Josep Roca (Sommelier and responsible for Food & Wine Pairing at El Celler de Can Roca). His calm and humble attitude captures the whole audience, this without any live cooking show. His personality and wealth of knowledge are inimitable. No wonder that the 3 Roca brothers (Joan , Chef de Cuisine and Jordi, Patissier) cook successfully since years and complement each other perfectly in all tasks. The concept presented, how a kitchen staff plays together harmoniously, professionally and successfully, is based on basic rules like tradition, freedom (mental) and creativity! Apart the excellence of knowledge on how to extract, process and integrate the aromas of a wine into a dish with complex processes of course. The personal short get together after his presentation was the absolute unique gift for me. This moments are memorable.
Another fascinating topic on the program was to learning about the philosophy of a dessert fine-dining restaurant called Coda Berlin designed by Frank Rene. Umami appears in his dishes as an important ingredient, I love the approach that their desserts are not too sweet and above all healthy and light and not at all boring or flat in the taste! Matching drinks are also paired with the desserts. The spray scent with jasmine blossom, tonka bean and flavoured rum we got to try in the plenary was magic.Beside the Chefs on the stage there were speed dates with gastro experts and a bunch of Swiss & international products to taste in the breaks between the shows!A big thank you to Chefalps and the organisators for an excellent 2019 edition!
Who is Food Zurich?
The association has beeen found in 2016 from Zurich Tourismus together with gastro and hotelier people. Their aim is to spread the good food vibes in our city. They offer a stage for local gastronomic productions as well as a wide range of culinary delights. Focusing on the themes of Switzerland, innovations and sustainable projects, the festival invites to get to know the national cuisine. It further promotes modern food creations. Discover local producers opening their doors to the public and sharing all of their passion for food and production.