On Wednesday we got the call. Do you want to have breakfast with Etgar Keret? He is coming to Poland for a few days with his mother Orna. Sure, we want to! And we will even prepare the breakfast for him. On Saturday morning in a Warsaw cafe Dwa Osiem we were waiting fully prepared. We knew that Keret doesn’t eat meat, so we asked Michał Gniłka to prepare three vegan dishes and a dessert.
Michał Gniłka prepared for Keret: beet soup with grilled fennel, cumin and coconut yogurt, French toast with chia seeds, almond cottage cheese with a rose water flavor with rhubarb jam and nasturtium flowers, crispy rice paper packets stuffed with tabbouleh with young leaves with ouzo vinaigrette and tahini sauce, salad with broad beans, dates and pearl barley. Etgar Keret said that this was probably the best meal he ate in Poland.
When Orna and Etgar appeared at one of the gate of Praga’s backyards, we are all very tense. We, because we had to talk to our favorite writer, Orna, because it was her first visit in Poland since the war. Previously she didn’t dare to come here. Her house no longer exists, few places today look like in the time when she lived here. “From Poland I remember only tastes and smells,” – she says. “In every apple I am looking for the taste of a Polish orchard”. After the second dish the atmosphere is more relaxed. And when Orna begins to clean with a handkerchief the smartphone screen, which was recording the conversation, and says, “I couldn’t look at it, now it’s much better. This is how it is to take your mom to an interview “- we feel just like at a family breakfast.
Your domain are short literary forms. The same in the kitchen? Do you prefer appetizers over the main course?
Definitely. Snacks are usually tastier. It’s just like in the cinema. Often, the best are the episodic roles. The protagonist takes the burden of the whole movie. A supporting actor doesn’t, so he can be unconventional, unpredictable and colorful. The same is with food – main course is to be filling and healthy, the cook can go crazy with the snacks. I have a strategy, in restaurants I take two or three appetizers instead of a main course.
When you are traveling the world, are you looking for unique culinary destinations?
Not really. But I know most of toy stores (laughs).
And in Israel?
When Anthony Bourdain [American chef, author of television cooking shows] came to Israel and asked me to show him something unique in our cuisine, I took him for the famous Sabich. It’s the only truly Israeli street food. The rest is Arabic. Sabich consists of eggplant, eggs, pickled mango sauce and hummus. It is very aromatic. When you eat it soak all in the smell of spices. Delicious!
Where can we buy it?
Everywhere, but the original one is only in one place. The man who invented it, is about 70 years old. He still has his food stand. He used to sell cigarettes and other things which you can usually buy in kiosks.
People kept asking whether he also has something to eat, so he invented the sandwich. First they didn’t have a name and customers said: “Sabich, give me one more”, and so it was created. There is always a long line in front of the kiosk. You have to wait for about 40 minutes because Sabich does everything personally and doesn’t hire anyone to help. In the window hangs an enlarged copy of his driving license, so customers can be sure that the product they eat is authentic. Making the perfect Sabich requires surgical precision, because all the ingredients are crushed inside, in the pita bread.
Apparently you’re a vegetarian since the age of five. Under what circumstances did you make this decision?
My dad took me to see the movie “Bambi”. In one scene deer hunters shot and killed his mother. I started to cry. Dad said, “What happened?” “I’m crying because hunters had killed his mom for no reason” – I replied. My dad said trying to comfort me: “No, no. They have a reason – they want to make a schnitzel out of her”. Then I decided that I will never take meat to my mouth – a piece of Bambi’s mom.
What did Mrs. Keret say?
Orna: I said to my husband: “You know that our child is very stubborn. It makes no sense to fight him. And if we let him do it in two months he will get bored, you will see “. He didn’t get bored till now. (>>>)
The full interview is to read in the new issue of printed USTA Magazine
Text: Karolina Rogalska, photos: Krzysztof Kozanowski, thanks to Dwa Osiem and Michał Borkiewicz for assistance in the photo shoot.
MAMA GAVE HIM STUFF
