Bouncing Czechs

MANILA, Philippines - It’s probably a writer’s type of question: What sort of snacks did Franz Kafka have next to his typewriter while working long nights in his dark room along Prague’s Golden Lane? What local sustenance did Milan Kundera require to write The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Joke? (Lots of vinegar, one presumes.) Did Václav Havel prefer fast food or nationalistic fare when writing his subversive plays? Is there something, perhaps, in the diet (or the water) of the Czech Republic that has led to its particular strain of literature?

More to the point, what do Czechs eat? We got a good introductory answer to that question at the hotel Dusit Thani Manila, which is holding a Czech Culinary and Cultural Festival featuring national dishes conceived by chef Vladimir Salansky until Oct. 27.

Authority on Czech cuisine: Award-winning chef Vladimir Salansky has managed 20 restaurants and hotels.

“Our national dish is pork with cabbage and dumplings,” says Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar. “We like soups and sauces. Czechs are also the best beer drinkers in the world.”

Rychtar is from Moravia, a warmer, more agricultural region to the east dotted with vineyards where they love their wines and pork (and beef, and poultry). “As you get closer to Prague the people get colder — cold people with their cold beers.”

Speaking of beer, we learn that Pilsen was named after a city in the Czech Republic. Of course, the Czechs also have their own Budweiser — the original Bud, not the American version that “tastes like water” to Czechs. The ambassador tells us Czech Bud can’t be imported to certain parts of the world like Manila, so the country is thinking of introducing it under another name — Czechvar, instead of Budvar. At P60 per half-liter can, Budvar sounds pretty affordable for Filipinos. For good measure, Rychtar orders himself a San Miguel.

Czech mate: Ambassador Josef Rychtar is a geophysicist whose diplomatic compass has taken him from Colombia to Kuwait.

We puzzled over the luncheon menu and learned that Czech food is similar to German food — there’s neighboring Bavaria, after all, with their sausages and schnitzels. Let’s say Czech food is hearty enough to warm and fortify them during their cold winters.

The first course was South Bohemian headcheese with spring onion and Czech vinegar. Bohemia was the old name for the Czech Republic during the time of Shakespeare, who would refer to singing “Bohemes” drinking wine in his plays, according to the ambassador.

Salansky, an award-winning chef who runs the Hotel Questenberk near Prague Castle, tells us he brought 150 kilos of foodstuffs from home for the food fest, one of them being the special vinegar used for the starter. Making headcheese is a complex process that involves cooking the pork meat, tongue and skin, which the chef says is a very important factor to bind the terrine together, then milling the ingredients until they’re fine. The resulting cold dish is nicely cut by the tang of onion and best eaten with pieces of pumpernickel bread.

In the soup: Old Bohemian potato soup with forest mushrooms

Second is Old Bohemian potato soup with forest mushrooms. A comforting dish with rustic vegetable chunks, herbs and a rich broth flavored with chicken, pork and beef, we heard that Czechs still forage for their own fresh mushrooms, and have a knack for distinguishing the edible from the poisonous (though sometimes, sadly, they get it wrong).

Our main dish is served only on special occasions, and it’s a stunner: beef medallions in a cream sauce with bread dumplings and cranberries. The plate arrived with appealing pops of color from the red cranberries, dollop of whipped cream, yellow lemon slice and green parsley sprig. The two filets mignon were seared to a perfect doneness and incredibly juicy and tender. “We eat steak, but we are not famous for being a steak country,” notes Rychtar. We learned there was mustard in the sauce but it had a lingering sweetness (perhaps Salansky’s attempt to woo the notoriously sweet palate of Filipinos). “The chef must appreciate you very much,” chuckles Rychtar.

To go with their proteins, Czechs choose from staples like potatoes, dumplings and rice, with dumplings often winning out. Rychtar fondly remembers his mother making round dumplings in the kitchen of his childhood, though chefs now prepare the bread as a loaf that they slice after it’s risen. With a texture that reminds us most of siopao bread, these dumpling slices are perfect for soaking up that beautiful savory-sweet sauce.

The dumplings and dollop of cream reappear in dessert: strawberry dumplings with cottage cheese. Except, the dumplings on our plates have a yellow, not red, filling. A strawberry shortage inspired chef Salansky to experiment with our Philippine mangoes; though the mango had a softer, wetter consistency than the usual plums, berries or apricots the Czechs use, he found that by drying the mango on napkins then covering them with flour that they made perfectly good dumpling fillers.

West meets East: Mango dumplings with grated cottage cheese and cream

The cheese is similar to Balkan cottage cheese but unsalted; it’s grated and sprinkled (like for ensaymada) in generous rainfalls over the dumplings.

Our Czech repast was savory enough to make us grow thirsty, and we wondered what Czech writers drink as they’re working. We couldn’t help picturing Kafka at the typewriter with a glass of slivovitz beside him — a liquor the ambassador informs us is even more potent than vodka or whiskey at 50-percent alcohol. That would make the lightness of being that much more bearable, we imagine.

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The Czech Culinary and Cultural Festival is ongoing until Oct. 27 at Dusit Thani Manila’s Basix All-Day Dining Restaurant for lunch and dinner. For inquiries and reservations, call 238-8888 or e-mail dtmnfb@dusit.com.