Chapter one: Finding my passion
I was born in a small industrial city in central Poland. Even if my hometown is surrounded by big metal manufacturers, power plants and mining industries, I still could find a lot of interesting nature areas to play around in. Biking along forest roads, climbing in trees, picking and eating berries and mushrooms, were my favorite activities (before I found computer games 😉). I also spent a lot of time with my grandma and one of the things we did was cooking.
Finding my passion
From my grandma, I learned a lot about planting and harvesting vegetables and picking food from the forest. She showed me how to use the ingredients with respect and get the best out of them. She passed me the knowledge from her own mother of how to prepare traditional Polish food. These foods brought the family together. The evenings around the table gave me unforgettable memories of everyone being happy and relaxed.
That’s when I found my passion.
I followed this path and graduated from all possible chef schools. I worked in places where I could gain more skills and knowledge. My work was in hotels, canteens and fine dine restaurants in Poland, Spain and Sweden. For thirteen years I was working as a professional chef and head chef, until there came a time in my life, when I couldn’t continue anymore.
A destructive lifestyle
In the restaurant industry you can find a lot of interesting people with passion, knowledge and astonishing skills. This environment is extremely creative, even artistic, but also very tough. Long days, between 16-18 hours, 6 days per week, sometimes 2-3 weeks in a row. The time pressure is huge and the stress is constant. Alcohol and drugs are normal, because people can’t handle it otherwise. Neglecting one’s private life and having problems in personal relations is very common.
Food waste
There is one more thing that was bothering me very much in this field. Food waste. The pressure from the surroundings, like legislation, food control, social media and aiming to be the best (which means bigger income) creates a lot of waste. Because of my respect towards nature and food,
I can’t throw away food.
With all these things in my head, I decided to make a big change and give up on what was my whole life, for so long. At that moment a new chapter in my life started and I took a big step across the Baltic Sea to Finland.
The story continues in the next post, stay tuned!
