PURO Q&A: Małgosia Minta

In our latest Q&A, we got in touch with Małgosia Minta*, worshipper of good taste, blogger, and culinary journalist. She is a sensitive and attentive observer of reality on and beyond the plate – we can see the effects of Małgosia’s observations in her beautiful photographs or read about them in her savory articles.

I experience the city…

Through taste. When it gently lingers on my palate or tempts my eyes.

When I want to meet people…

I go somewhere for a breakfast, alone. I sneak a look at someone’s magazine, ask – or give advice – about the menu. I also strike up conversations, though it’s theoretically against my nature. However, when you have all this delicious food around, it’s much easier to let the first sentence come out of your mouth. And you never know where a conversation may lead.

When I want to relax…

I have my phone turned off, but it happens rarely.

I like walking…

With bags. I go to various kinds of markets, look at what people put in their baskets, how they choose fruit and what questions they have for sellers. I follow my beaten track in a place I know and follow others’ traces when I’m somewhere new. When I’m done, I just disappear in a side street.

I discover…

That it’s possible for a tart with a passion fruit filling and meringue to escape unhurt from a London- Warsaw journey. And no one wants to sponge on you.

I find treasure…

In a greengrocer’s.

The taste of the city…

The taste of food you feel like eating on the street.

I always carry with me…

Far too many things. At least two bags. A Moleskine calendar (with chaotic writing), a mobile phone and a pen without a pen cap. Lately, a tomato that made it out of a plastic bag. I also have an R2-D2 key fob – after all, a Jedi Knight needs a companion.

In my suitcase I have…

Spare room – so that I can bring the taste of a visited city back home. In my hand luggage I put cables. Chargers for my laptop, camera, and phone. I’m sure they all weigh more than clothes.

*Małgorzata Minta, a journalist, but first of all a culinary aficionado. Every week, she writes about interesting tastes, people and culinary events in her column in “Gazeta Wyborcza”. Her articles are published in papers such as “Usta”, “Kuchnia” and “Monitor Magazine”. She runs her own blog MintaEats.com.

All photos: Małgorzata Minta