Assaggi di Cracovia (Flavours of Kraków), a promo event staged in Rome on 18 July by Polish Tourism Organisation together with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Rome, was dedicated to Polish food scene and the city of Kraków.

Held by Polish Tourism Organisation (Polska Organizacja Turystyczna -  POT) in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Rome, the event provided an opportunity to promote Kraków as the 2019 European Capital of Gastronomic Culture and sum up the cuisine-themed #Polognam campaign conducted in the Italian market. Arranged in magnificent Embasasy gardens, the culinary evening was attended by numerous guests, mostly journalists and bloggers, but also representatives of diplomatic circles and the Italian Parliament.

For one evening only, the Embassy gardens became filled with the aroma of a unique variant of pierogi with goat cheese, lamb and sweet Kraków małdrzyki (cottage cheese pancakes) prepared by chefs Michał Cienki and Wiktor Kowalski of the ART restaurant. During a live cooking show arranged specially for the audience, the chefs cooked quintessentially Kraków meals right in front of the gathered spectators. In addition, they used a highly aesthetic method to showcase that Polish cuisine is rich in flavours, boldly rediscovers long-forgotten recipes and cares about using regional products.

Szymon Wojtasik, chargé d’affaires himself, lent a helping hand during the live cooking session, along with Giulio Rossi, journalist and founder of the ricettedellanonna.net portal, and Federica Piersimoni, blogger and Instagram influencer. Both Rossi and Piersimoni already had a chance to cook together with ART chefs during an earlier fam trip. In other words, the discussed event acted as a perfect closure of a series of activities intended to promote Polish cuisine and regional flavours inseparable from the areas they hail from.

Karolina Bieda-Urban and Marta Mondygraf, representatives of the Department of Tourism of Municipality of Kraków, added splendor to the event by bringing regional products from Kraków and Małopolska for tasting purposes and discussing the European Capital of Gastronomic Culture project. The event was hosted by Barbara Minczewa, Head of the Polish Tourism Organisation International Office in Rome, who opened the evening by announcing the winner of an Instagram competition that wrapped up on 15 July as part of the #Polognam campaign. Next, she introduced the present journalists and guests to the culinary world of Kraków, its history, tradition and innovative approach to cooking. The competition winner will soon travel to Poland as a food reporter.