Vanja Puskar, cook – Being a chef is not a job, but a way of life

(Vanja Puskar) This winter, Belgrade has become the site of Chef's Tour – Dinner Series. Three famous chefs from Belgrade joined the concept, one of whom is Vanja Puskar, the creative leader of the kitchen team at Hotel Radisson Collection, Old Mill Belgrade and the founder of the New Balkan Cuisine concept. We discussed this and the gastronomy offer in the capital of Serbia with Puskar, who believes that Belgrade has the biggest potential for becoming a gastronomic center of the Balkans.

eKapija: How did you create the menu for the Chef's Tour – Dinner Series? What do you recommend?

– The idea behind the Chef's Tour Dinner menu is for each one of us to keep a dose of individuality and present their style of cooking. We needed to agree on basic ingredients in order for the menu to be balanced. There will be a rotating menu over the course of three dinners, which means that each of us three chefs will try various menu orders. It's hard for me to pick any dish as a favorite, especially here, where a tasting menu is provided and all orders are equally important for a full experience. Personally, I have a loose approach to gastronomy and avoid getting tied to certain dishes or cuisines. I am more likely to favor a certain ingredient and its interpretation in the menu.

eKapija: What can you tell us about your personal style of cooking?

– The beauty of our profession is that it is applicable worldwide, as the techniques and methods of cooking are now globally available. I look for something unique in ingredients from our microlocation. By combining those ingredient and modern cooking techniques, we get our formula which explains the basics of the New Balkan Cuisine concept. My cooking is largely based on continental ingredients, which doesn't mean that I don't like using anything else. It's just that I'm much better at interpreting the former. New Balkan Cuisine preserves basic values and changes the form in order to respond to modern tendencies and challenges. Tradition can only be preserved if we allow it to evolve while maintaining the basic set of values. Otherwise, the tradition would largely disappear due to not being applicable to modern everyday life.

(Chef's Tour – Dinner Series team)

eKapija: What are the global trends in preparing and serving food and drinks?

– Focusing on local ingredients has been a global trend for a long time now. As I've already mentioned, it is the ingredients that give us a dose of uniqueness in the global gastro market. Ingredients are ambassadors of micro locations and reflect the character of their place of origin, as well as climate changes and social changes.

eKapija: To what extent do cooks in Serbia follow global trends and are there conditions here for that kind of professional development?

– I believe that we all have more or less equal opportunities for education and personal development and that it all largely depends on our will and desire to develop. There's room for implementation, one just needs to harmonize with the degree of the development of the market. Our restaurant scene is developing quickly and this development has an impact on us and our guests alike. This process takes time so that the end product would be of high quality. There's a drastic difference between the time I first entered a kitchen and now. I can say that I am hyper-optimistic when it comes to every aspect of my work and I feel good about the progress I'm experiencing.

eKapija: What does your work day look like?

– I believe that being a chef is not a job, but a way of life. It's hard to draw a line between leisure and work hours. A dynamic and creative position such as this requires personal time sacrifices and if we don't enjoy it, we can't be good chefs. My work day is hard to describe as a set pattern, but it always includes the procurement of ingredients, constant communication with the kitchen team, the development of new dishes and the improvement of the existing ones. The most important thing is for each day to be marked by an expansion of the range of quality ingredients and the network of constructive associates. To me, this is the foundation for a successful upgrade of the business and personal development. Those two things need to be balanced. My day usually starts at 8 am and ends around midnight, but I don't only see it as work hours, but as time spent on personal realization.

eKapija: Which challenges do chefs face in hotels?

– The biggest challenge of a hotel chef is to make a balance between the challenges and the personal approach to cooking. Numerous factors influence our everyday life, such as the labor market and the workforce available, the season of the year and the procurement of ingredients, as well as amplitudes in the volume of business. Making a balance between these factors and preventing them from negatively impacting the quality is a great everyday challenge. It's not easy being innovative and profitable nowadays, but it is definitely possible and is a great satisfaction when achieved.

eKapija: What is the main asset of the Balkans cuisine?

– The rich flora and fauna of the Balkans is its main asset. Favorable climate and varied relief result in a wide range of ingredients and aromas. Those ingredients reflect the character of this area and their implementation gives us a multidimensional and memorable idea of the Balkans. Despite the accelerated development, we still use a limited range of ingredients, and a lot remains undiscovered. We are all constantly looking for new flavors and forms, and the Balkans definitely have the potential in that respect. By understanding the riches that surround us, we become more aware that nothing should be taken for granted, but that we need to make effort to preserve and keep what's been given to us, that is, to respect the nature, ourselves and the world around us.

eKapija: What does Belgrade need in order to become the gastro center of the Balkans?

– In my opinion, Belgrade has the biggest potential of all cities in the Balkans. For a while now, I've believed that absolutely everything is in our hands and that we can start a change for the better as individuals. I avoid making excuses, which has been a trend in the past few years, or even decades. Those excuses come down to us blaming everything on the society, conditions, the state, neighbors, the education system... I believe everything starts with us. Belgrade has a great potential and it is up to us to come up with business models to use that potential. A change of approach is currently happening in the hospitality sector. Pressured by the market, the formats without a business plan and a guiding idea when it comes to the concept itself find it hard to survive. This increases the competitiveness and leads to an increased quality of products. It makes room for braver concepts based on the great enthusiasm of individuals. Quality and an adequate model of presenting that quality are crucial. The most illustrious examples are espresso, beer and wine scene...

eKapija: Is there a restaurant in Belgrade that could get a Michelin star? Does anyone here have that kind of quality?

– We shouldn't be overly concerned with guides and their presence in our market. We need to be honest with ourselves about what our product is, what our micro business ethics are and what kind of message we are sending. Recognition by Michelin is then a natural result of it all. Quality, creativity, product stability and dedication are what success is based on. If the product is great, all acknowledgments are just an additional confirmation, not an initial motive for quality. A restaurant doesn't base its products on looking for a Michelin star. Instead, the star is a confirmation of quality. I believe that it is more important for us to be in a symbiotic relationship with the product we offer. That's what a successful work day is based on and this is applicable in all fields. If we all did so, our lives would be much different.

eKapija: What is your opinion of cooking shows and would you ever be a part of one such project?

– As is the case with everything, there are cooking shows that make sense, and also those that act as program fillers and aim to entertain viewers without any deep message or quality content. I believe that they contribute to raising awareness of food, which is good, but in the end, understanding media content is up to the viewer. Everyone creates their own message and in most cases sees what they want to see. I'm open to all projects which allow me to do my job the way I think it should be done. If that can fit in a TV format, why not.

eKapija: Are there any anecdotes or incidents you would like to share with our readers?

– I believe that each of our working days is full of various anecdotes and interesting situations, so it's hard to pick one. There have been injuries at work, miscommunication with waiters, dinners where the number of guests would change, leading to a lack of food... we've all more or less been through such situations and will continue to experience them as well, it's only a matter of how much. It's a part of us and our job.

S. Sojic

Radisson Collection Hotel, Old Mill Belgrade

New Balkan Cuisine

Vanja Puskar

cook Puskar

cooks

Chefs Tour Dinner Series

traditional and modern cuisine