This spring is one of beginnings, as were the previous ones from the recent years. I didn’t make plans, the ideas were spontaneous, and to put them into practice I received help from everywhere, but especially from my family and my closes friends, who have become used to (I hope) my way of doing things. I owe my wife the very foundation of the Association, as she handled everything concerning…everything, investing a lot of energy and time. I am grateful to her and to everyone involved in this project that means a lot to me, it means the chance of giving back to society, which is important. I think it’s wrong to complain about society and judge its drawbacks as long as we don’t constantly try to make it better, again and again, until there’s nothing left to criticize (I know it sound utopian but I guarantee you it’s not).
What is this Association? It is a non-profit organization that has gastronomic education as primary objective. On one hand, discovering and accepting Romanian cuisine as it is, discovering the roots of this cuisine, promoting the Romanian cuisine inside and outside the country borders, developing gastronomic projects and, more importantly, developing gastronomic educational programs. The first project of this kind, which is rather an ambitious but not impossible one, is for talented and passionate young people with not financial possibilities. The idea was the result of numerous messages that I’ve been constantly getting form young people graduating high school who want to become chefs and who don’t know what they can do. Some of them have resources, some of them don’t. I can advise the ones who do have money towards a school according to their wishes and their budget (there are many schools in the country and outside), and I can help those who don’t have money in a different way. Of course, not all of them, but offering the chance of schooling for ten young people from Bucharest and ten from Cluj (for now) for a year, with practice in restaurants I know and I can vouch for is a good start. I believe that a year of thorough schooling combined with a well-structured practice can provide a starting point for a career in cooking. It’s a minimum that makes me hope that every year, Romania will have 20 open-minded, smart cooks, oriented towards ingredients and experiments, these being two essential things for overall growth, apart from technique and seriousness, which are essential for personal growth.
About fundraising activities and funding possibilities I will talk about another time, as today I simply wanted to keep you updates on the emergence of the Association and its purposes. Its establishment was also possible thanks to the attention I’ve been getting these last few years, therefore I thank you. Stay healthy.
Special thanks to
Oana Bodnariuc, Authorized Translator
[email protected]
facebook.com/oana.bodnariuc