Some moments remind you exactly why this region’s story is worth telling. The Chef’s Table with Filip Ondrušek at the Vatră și Ogradă experiential gastronomic fair was one of them.

Hosted at Ferma Dacilor, the fair brought together more than 50 exhibitors and, in the dedicated Slow Food Corner, 18 artisan producers, most of them from Buzău. At the heart of it all was a live-cooking experience that turned local ingredients into something unforgettable.

A traveling chef with a global table

Filip Ondrušek is not your average guest chef. At 29, he has already worked in some of the world’s most celebrated kitchens, including restaurants with two and three Michelin stars. Slovak by origin and Austrian by nationality, he grew up in Austria and trained at a hotel academy before choosing a different path altogether: to become a traveling chef, cooking not in one place but everywhere, learning the traditions and specialties of each territory he visits.

After more than a decade on the road, the USA, Australia, Japan, Africa and beyond, Filip has built his entire approach around respect: respect for the ingredient, the season, the place, and the people behind every product. Seasonality, sustainability, zero waste, and the culinary memory of a region are not buzzwords for him. They are simply the way he cooks.

So when a chef like this chooses to build a menu on the spot from local products, it speaks volumes. It says something about the quality, the potential, and the story that Dobrogea’s producers carry forward, day after day.

Dobrogea on the plate

Invited by Slow Food Buzău, Filip created a menu right there at the fair, working with products from the Slow Food Buzău community and other local communities across Romania. Among the ingredients he selected were three from producers who are partners of the Dobrogea – Candidate European Gastronomic Region 2029 project:

• Almonds from Migdale de Jurilovca
• Dinogetia cheese from Fabrica de lapte “TU”
• Rose syrup from Grădina Zânelor Jurilovca

Three ingredients, three stories, three families who grow and craft with care and respect for nature. To see them chosen by a chef with this kind of international experience was, for us, an honor, and a recognition that motivates everyone who believes in the power of local products and the hands that create them.

A setting built on respect

What made the experience excellent was not only the cooking, but the spirit around it. Cellebrating naturally, with care and attention, in a setting that put the ingredient, the season, and the people first.

Our heartfelt thanks go to Slow Food Buzău for facilitating this unique experience, to Vatră și Ogradă for creating a space where Dobrogean producers shone, and to Ferma Dacilor for hosting it all.

Together, we carry the taste and the story of Dobrogea forward.