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“Maistra’s Gastro Experience School” Takes You to the Source of Taste
We invite you to discover the lure of the untouched, to taste nature in its original form: in the form of food, and to primordially experience prehistoric times in a place where time appears to have stood still.
The small town of Monkodonjo, a fortress from the early Bronze age, located on a hill where rocks, that are over thousands of years old, appear to have joined the earth and the sky together and bear testimony to the life that was lead in this region way back in prehistoric times. We stopped time for you here in order to bring you back to basics! We will help you uncover the secrets behind the preparation of traditional meals and the natural victuals required for their preparation, including aromatic herbs and wild plants used to give these meals their simple, natural and unique taste.
Cooking Course - Aromatic Herbs
Program
Day 1 - Friday
Arrival and settling in
Presentation of program and associated activities with accompanying welcome drink: traditional domestic strong alcoholic beverages (pelinkovac - herbal brandy, medica - mead, biska and ruda - both brandies)
Introduction to cooking course leader, Viljam Cvek, and the Maistra gastro team, followed by an aromatic herbs and plants presentation. We will then begin to prepare dinner based on autochthonous meals, using aromatic herbs and wild plants
Group dinner. Meals prepared by course participants will be consumed, after being paired with fine wines representative of Istria’s viniculture.
Day 2 - Saturday
Rich buffet breakfast Breakfast will be followed by a nature excursion in the near vicinity of St. Petar u Sumi - St. Peter in the Woods, a place whose name alludes to the forests that surrounded this settlement throughout history. As of the 12th century, St. Petar u Sumi was known, amongst all else, because of its Benedictine monastery, and then later also for its Paulist monastery where “white monks” or “reclusive monks” originated. These monks have been known for their engagement in pharmaceutics. Within the monastery, the monks tended a garden that was filled with plants used for healing and seasoning. It is very probable that many of the plants found growing in nearby forests and fields originated from the soils of the garden found within the Paulist monastery. Course participants will be equipped with a stick, straw hat, and hand woven basket. Led by a professional guide, participants will search for wild and aromatic plants that grow in Istria. Wild plants and vegetables available for picking in the springtime include: wild asparagus, wild rugola, tavka, sorrel, wild chicory, fennel, wild poppy, bljušt (a type of liana), and others. With their unforgettable scents, aromatic plants such as juniper, bay, lavender, sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and others entice us all year around. After a pleasant walk, intoxicated by the scents of the aromatic herbs, we will set off to a place, featuring a traditional village ambience, where our host will show us how the wild plants of Istria, typical for the Mediterranean climate, may be used for the preparation of autochthonous Istrian meals dating back to ancient times. Lunch will be served with a cold, refreshing tea made from aromatic herbs, or an unsurpassed white wine - Istria’s Malvazija. In the afternoon hours, we return to the cooking school and learn various ways to prepare autochthonous agricultural meals featuring ecological and autochthonous victuals, including wild and aromatic plants. Group dinner and Istrian brandy presentation. Meals prepared during the course’s practical session will be served with fine Istrian wines that best compliments it.
Day 3 - Sunday
Rich buffet breakfast
Via Land Rover, we take off to an excursion of the prehistoric city of Monkodonjo, a fortress in the vicinity of Rovinj, where a presentation will be held regarding the manufacturing of prehistoric tools and the preparation of meals from that prehistoric time period. Group lunch. Certificates for the successful completion of Maistra’s “Gastro Experience” School, led by Viljam Cvek, will be handed out to course participants, as well as complimentary gifts - autochthonous, authentic products and a book of recipes
Maistra’s DMC department guarantees program
realization. For further information and reservations,
please contact:
DMC Department
Maistra Ltd., Obala V. Nazora 6, 52210 Rovinj, Croatia
tel: +385 (0)52 800 217, +385 (0)52 800 209
fax: +385 (0)52 800 383
e-mail: dmc@maistra.hr
www.maistra.hr |
Program is led by Viljam Cvek
“Maistra’s Gastro Experience school” is led by Viljam Cvek, a world class gastro expert whose company, along with the company of the selected Maistra cooking team, you will enjoy during food preparation. Viljam Cvek has mastered the culinary arts over the years in Croatia, and has been able to demonstrate his skills at many important projects and Croatian gastronomy presentations throughout the world. He is the author of several cookbooks - “101 MENUS from Kitchens of the Istria-Primorje Region”, “Meals for Holidays and Special Occasions”, “Creative Cooking with a Mediterranean Flavor”, “A Spoonful of Pleasure - Culinary Postcards” - and he was the winner of many acknowledgements, the most significant including: “Europe’s King of Chefs” in Hungary 1999, the Swiss “Cuoco d’oro internazionale” award in Lugano 2000, and the prestigious “Collegium Cocorum”, awarded by the Italian federation of gastronomists, in the year 2002.
Accommodation
Maistra Hotels & Resorts
Date
The program includes the following services
- Accommodation
- welcome drink
- Buffet breakfast offering a wide selection every day
- Two professionally led cooking sessions during your stay, using only top quality, autochthonous ecological ingredients and freshly picked aromatic and wild herbs
- Two dinners (Friday and Saturday) and lunch (Sunday)
- Distribution of materials containing recipes and cooking advice that course participants will have an
opportunity to hear throughout the three-day course
- Transportation services for all excursions foreseen in the program (mini bus and Land Rovers)
- Aromatic plants and herbs presentation, as well as aromatic and wild plant picking - equipment included
- Lunch in a village household environment, featuring homemade bread, soup made with wild herbs, a meal cooked ispod peke (under a metal cover with an overlaying fire), domestic teas, and wine
- Excursion to the prehistoric city of Monkodonjo and a professional presentation regarding prehistoric tools and weapons manufacturing, as well as food preparation
- Complimentary gift: authentic handicraft or autochthonous product and book of recipes used during the cooking course.
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