To win tourists’ hearts through their stomachs, the County Office published a cookbook of local recipes. Rural Housewives’ Circle members and local restaurateurs were involved in the project. More than 50 people decided to respond to the County Office’s competition and submit their beloved, tried-and-tested recipes, which, due to their uniqueness, have stood the test of time and won the hearts and palates of successive generations.
The recipes that best characterized the flavors of our region were selected. Among them were dishes with truly appetizing names, such as buttered wild boar stew and turkey stuffed in cranberry sauce.
“To encourage people to come here, we try to show what is most attractive,” says Dariusz Kwaśniewski, the project coordinator. “We concluded that cuisine is also a reason to fall in love with this place. The people who live in Pieńsk, Zgorzelec, Bolesławiec and Węgliniec come from many parts of Europe. This can be seen in the many recipes submitted. Elements of Balkan, Lithuanian and Greek cuisine can be found here,” Kwaśniewski emphasizes.
The cookbook is also an excellent promotion of the “tasty places” in the Wilderness where visitors can eat well. That is why the proposed recipes are prepared by local restaurateurs. “We managed to involve entrepreneurs in the project,” says county head Cezary Przybylski, pleased with their participation.
Creating this new tourist brand will not rely solely on the monuments or tasty resources of the Wilderness. Regional events that are popular with visitors will also attract tourists.
“We want to charm people with our wilderness, the Lusatian Neisse, the Kwisa and the Bóbr, beautiful monuments and exceptional events,” says Kwaśniewski. “There are many of them: the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival and the ‘Blues nad Bobrem’ Festival, Zgorzelec’s ‘Jakuby’ and Street Theatre Festival, ‘Jagodowe Lato’ in Ruszów and the ‘Mushroom Festival’ in Węgliniec, as well as the ‘Folklorum’ Multicultural Festival and ‘Na styku czterech kultur’ Little Easter organized by the Pieńsk Municipality. We want as many tourists as possible to fall in love with our land, so that they come and leave as much money as possible here,” the project coordinator adds.
Each municipality (Bolesławiec County, Pieńsk Municipality, Węgliniec and Zgorzelec) will allocate more than PLN 56,000 for this tourism promotion. The remaining amount—nearly PLN 522,000—comes from the European Union.
Remembering all the authors of the dishes, Dariusz Kwaśniewski extends special thanks to the housewives from Kliczków, Bolesławice, Lipiany and Bożejowice-Rakowice, Grażyna Kafel (“Turkey stuffed with cranberry sauce”), Danuta Kalina from Żeliszów (“Easter mixture”), and Władysław Boczar (pâté and butter game stew).
Competition!
We have six cookbooks for our readers. Using the contact form, name one of the recipes used in the book and provide your first name, surname and contact telephone number.
The competition has ended. The prizes were won by: Monika Brzuszkiewicz, Kamil Błoniarz, Przemysław Górski, Anna Potoczniak, Malwina Krajniak and Marek Czaplicki. Congratulations.
(information: County Office/ii)