All of us have been overwhelmed with industrially-produced food, with few nutrients and often contaminated with pesticides and herbicides. A new platform focused on good, high-quality, healthy local food – called We Love Local – was presented on Tuesday at the renowned restaurant Rougemarin City in Zagreb, headed by chef Marin Medak.
It puts the focus back on local food and seasonal ingredients, and it was a real opportunity for good food fans, journalists, food experts, food bloggers and many celebrities, i.e. all those who want to return to healthy and homemade food and ingredients, to meet at one of the most beautiful terraces in the town.
Chef Marin Medak presented the project in the best possible way: he prepared imaginative and unexpected, and yet authentic delicacies made from fresh and high-quality local ingredients, and demonstrated how the platform should operate – by connecting small local farmers and food producers with restaurants serving the best dishes prepared from such local ingredients.
Among ingredients which found their place in the kitchen and on the table were the juicy tomatoes Rajska, which smell of a carefree summer; fragrant Istrian olive oils by the boutique brand Fameja; exquisite wines of the esteemed winemaking family Pilato from Istria, who recently won a gold for their 2015 Malvasia Sur Lie at the Decanter in London; then the Mendek Selekcija wines; Istrian craft gin and fruit liqueurs produced by Aura distillery; the GUUC natural juices and quality beer by the Hajsonberg brewery.
We Love Local should be a sort of a national treasury of outstanding food products and ingredients. With the vital support of two top chefs and gastronomic visionaries, Marin Medak, owner of the legendary Rougemarin, and Rudolf Štefan, owner of the Pelegrini restaurant and the host of Chefs’ Stage, the project was launched by the Alert marketing agency and the Journal.hr lifestyle website. The Croatian company Nord Produkt proudly supports the project.
The common goal is to support, grow, strengthen and economically empower small producers of autochthonous products and to recognize and promote the excellence of Croatian cuisine. Chef Marin Medak, the passionate advocate of the project who has followed this approach for years, has succeeded in bringing his love of authentic homemade foods made from local high-quality and fresh ingredients to guests through courses of original dishes.
He said, “I believe in the We Love Local concept of quality food from the farm to the table. This is why these newly-presented dishes will find their place on the new menu of Rougemarin City. We will serve autochthonous Croatian cuisine made from delicious local ingredients and in a street food fashion. This is a brave change in the approach, but the advocate of a project has to lead by his example. I expect that we will start a trend that will be helpful for small producers, restaurant guests and the society as a whole.”
In order for all the restaurants that support, buy and serve food made from locally-grown ingredients to be recognizable to guests who want to eat better, the We Love Local platform has prepared unique labels that will make it clear to guests where they can find nutritionally rich, fresh and tasty locally-grown food.
Iva Radić, the founder of the influential website Journal.hr and one of the project’s initiators, said, “I love this project! We are making local food fashionable again, and we celebrate the beauty of simplicity while building a better future and giving our people a reason to stay in the country. We are launching good and important things. This is something our children will talk about to their kids.”
We Love Local campaign can be followed on social networks Facebook and Instagram.
More news about food can be found in the Lifestyle section.
