Festival Menu

Sustainability is food

When we talk about sustainability, we must first and foremost talk about food. Why? We need food every day and we can’t give it up. That's why we’re focusing on food and food-related topics this year. At this year's Ji.hlava, you’ll encounter food through specific local ingredients and their producers, through food’s social function, which includes sharing, but also through food waste and its management.

"Our ancestors, even hundreds of years ago, consumed only what grew in their surroundings. So localism isn’t a fashion trend – it goes back deep into the past. It goes back to a time when there were no cars to deliver anything, no freezers for people to store their summer harvests."

–⁠ Pavel Drdel, chef and owner of the Sůl & Řepa restaurant in Strakonice

"Focusing on sustainability in food is one of the easiest ways to change the world for the better. Every time we opt for a local product, every time we decide to forgo meat, every time we buy lunch for someone who couldn't otherwise afford it, we're making the world a better place. Food is an everyday thing and allows us to cultivate good relationships with other people, the land and the landscape on a regular basis and at a level that doesn't require superheroic determination."

–⁠ Petra Tajovský Pospěchová, journalist

We approached chef Pavel Drdel, author of the Lent Cookbook, promoter of wastelessness and localism, to prepare a vegetarian-vegan-local festival menu for us. Try the creamy minestrone in the festival foyer at the U Dvou přátel stand and the zucchini croquettes in the festival foyer at the MadCat stand. Both booths will be offering a "pay-it-forward lunch" subscription, allowing a person in need to eat for free at the festival. Both the meals and the lemonade can also be prepared at home.

Creamy minestrone

Ingredients
250 g rinsed carrots
120 g rinsed parsley root
120 g celery
150 g rinsed golden beetroot
100 g peeled onions
1000 ml vegetable stock
Salt
Pepper
Root vegetables to serve
Fresh herbs for garnish

Procedure
Cut the root vegetables and golden beetroot into centimetre-long cubes, mix with salt and oil, transfer to a baking dish or tray and bake in the oven at 200˚C until dark. Mix them around while baking so you don't get black cubes at the edges of the baking sheet and light cubes in the middle. Remove from the oven after 35-40 minutes. Finely chop the onion. Add the roasted root vegetables and pour in the vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper and cook for half an hour until tender. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with roasted root vegetables and fresh herb leaves.

Zucchini croquettes

Ingredients
½ larger zucchini
½ smaller hokkaido pumpkin
½ small leek
1 spoonful of butter
4 eggs
Salt
Pepper
Crushed cumin
Fresh herbs
Breadcrumbs for thickening and breading
Flour, milk and egg for breading
Oil for frying

Procedure
Grate the zucchini and pumpkin coarsely after removing the seeds. Transfer them to a baking dish, sprinkle with salt and oil and put them in a preheated oven for ten minutes for the zucchini to soften a little and, most importantly, for it to release water. Leave to cool and squeeze all the excess water out of the zucchinis. Finely chop the leeks and sauté briefly in butter. Transfer to a bowl with the zucchinis, egg, cumin, some of the chopped herbs, salt and pepper. Stir and thicken the breadcrumbs to make a firmer batter. Shape into balls and roll them first in the flour, then in the milk and egg. Finally, add the rest of the herbs to the breadcrumbs before rolling the balls in them to finish breading. Fry until golden.