Zuza Zak
I call myself a storyteller-cook and I have published four recipe and culture books – Polska (2016, Quadrille), Amber&Rye (2020, Murdoch), Pierogi (2022, Quadrille), Slavic Kitchen Alchemy (2023, Watkins). Her books have been translated into Polish, German, Dutch, French and Hungarian.
I am interested in the culture and history of food, therefore I use storytelling as a medium for delving into another cuisine and through it, into another culture. I learnt the art of cooking and foraging from my grandmothers – Ziuta and Halinka. All of my early childhood memories are intertwined with food, so now I am now passing on the culinary love to my two daughters in our kitchen on the coast of the UK.
My work has been featured in The Guardian, The Independent, National Geographic and The Wallstreet Journal amongst other leading publications. I have appeared on TV shows in the UK and in Poland, as well as taking part in many radio shows and podcasts.
My Story
An Unknown Cuisine
My story began in a land and time very removed and different from the one I inhabit today. I was born in Communist Poland in 1979 and spent the first 8 years of my life in an oppressive regime that I remember with a strange mixture of fear and nostalgia. There was often nothing to be found in the shops. Sometimes people would queue for 8 hours or more to buy one random ingredient that happened to be available that day, yet somehow the Polish people always found a way to eat and to enjoy themselves. Families, friends and communities would work together to find, grow, forage and obtain everything that was needed to create amazing feasts.
I started writing my first book “Polska, because I felt that people knew very little about my country, it’s food and culture. At that point, I had a full-time job in TV and would get up at 6.30am to do 45min of writing before commuting work. In this way, bit-by-bit, the first book wrote itself and it changed my life as I knew it… Polska received a wonderful reception, which encouraged me to continuer exploring Eastern Europe through my writing. My following book was Amber&Rye – a magical adventure through the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, where I also have some ancestral roots. The book is dedicated to my Babcia Hala, who came from Vilnius in Lithuania. I travelled with my 3-year-old daughter, Delfina, and my partner, Yasin, who did the travel photography for this book. After this, the pandemic hit and we did not go anywhere for a long time. My second daughter came into the world during this difficult moment. In my third book, “Pierogi” I wanted to explore the rich and regional world of Polish dumplings, but, of course, we couldn’t travel.
Therefore, I collected many of the recipes in this book from my wonderful online community and their extended families, to whom I will be forever grateful. Finally, my fourth book was something a little different – it’s the book I have wanted to see in the English language for a long time, but wasn’t sure I could write myself. It explores Slavic herbalism, mythology, folk stories and crafts, as well as some special recipes. It is the world of my Babcia Ziuta, to whom the book is dedicated. I am now living on the coast with my two daughters, Yasin, two cats, some chickens and three aquariums full of fish. I spend much of my time in the garden, trying to grow my own vegetables. I am also working on a new, exciting project, which I hope I can share with you shortly.
