Poland won the first prize in Bodo Herring Festival culinary competition.
17 August 2007The Herring Festival (Sildefestival), together with the culinary competition for the best herring dish, took place in Bodo on 2-6 of August. Poland was represented by Warsaw Le Regina Hotel chef – Pawel Oszczyk and his cooks – Marek Burkacki and Piotr Mangos.
Poland is the seventh biggest importer of seafood from Norway and the third market for Norwegian herring. During the last four years the export of herring remained on the stable level of 130-140 mln tons. The market for herring in Poland is fully dependent on import; Norway satisfies almost 50% of Polish needs. The Polish presence at the festival was therefore important.
Pawel Oszczyk proposed three herring dishes:
1. Herring tartar with sparkling caviar and quail egg;
2. Cannelloni of herring with smoked salmon, boletus salad and „żurek” soup;
3. Salad of herring with oriental spices - rhubarb, grapefruit and beet root relish.
The idea of the dishes was to connect a traditional Polish cuisine, a modern culinary concept and a fusion cuisine.
The polish exposition was very popular during all three days of festival. It was also appreciated by the Jury of the culinary competition, constituted by representatives from Kokkenes Mesterlaug and children – as having the most delicate sense of taste. Salad of herring with oriental spices prepared by Le Regina Hotel chef won the first prize. The winner was pleased with the diploma and the cup.
“Norwegian herring is very popular in Poland, so we looked really forward to participating in the culinary competition in at the Herring festival. For us it was an exceptional occasion to show Polish cuisine traditions. We were really surprised by the warm reception we received in a country that in Poland is rather associated with northern distance and emotional control,” said Pawel Oszczyk after receiving the prize.
Norwegian lost their hearts to the Polish cuisine. Katrine Marie Hagenes, chief organiser of the Herring festival, congratulated the success and said that thanks to the popularity of the Polish dishes organisers have already started to prepare a book of the recipes from the Herring festival (Sildefestival) 2007.