“Food is a love language”: Norbert Krasznai and his first cookbook

Krasznai has felt more comfortable with the concept of small plates, although he is a reserved person and finds it curious that such a communal genre is the one that best represents him. His first international small-plate restaurant was Fleischer Restobar in Budapest, and since then he has brought that style to his private kitchen. It's a relaxed, informal, and less rigid style: more food is served at once, and there are fewer rules. From the customer's perspective, he says, it's more enjoyable because you can eat anything with anything.

For Krasznai, the term goes far beyond portion size. It's a way of conversing: sharing food, conversing, and connecting. She sees strangers beginning to communicate through food. The method, she says, also works at home because many dishes can be prepared in advance, and it's above all more practical.

The idea for the book came from Krasznai and his partner, Noémi Korcsmáros, with the aim of enabling people to prepare at home the dishes they sampled in their restaurant. According to the chef, the book demonstrates that the concept of small plates works very well in a home setting. The photographs are by Bálint Széll, with whom they had previously collaborated, and were taken at their home and a neighbor's.

Working together wasn't always easy. They cooked and photographed nearly forty dishes in a single weekend, and the challenge was to keep things simple. The book is aimed at a general audience, not beginners, and uses ingredients found in almost any supermarket. Krasznai wouldn't recommend it as couples therapy, because they had different priorities.

Krasznai believes people have become more open to vegetables. The vegetable section is the most extensive in the book, and these are the dishes he most enjoys preparing. He prefers cooking vegetables at home, isn't a big meat eater, and, influenced by Asian cuisine, vegetables are becoming increasingly important to him. Two recipes stand out for him personally: duck leg strudel and cottage cheese dumplings, both emblematic dishes of Lake Balaton.

The book is titled "Let's Eat Together." For Krasznai, gastronomy is primarily about sharing, regardless of who you eat with. Her favorite ingredients come from the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Asia, including fresh cilantro, za'atar, sumac, and cumin, and she also uses hummus, gravlax, ceviche, and chicken liver cream with cherries.

Writing the book taught him to let go of perfection. At Societe, he worked in a highly demanding kitchen; at Balaton, he had to handle everything himself and realized there's no need to overcomplicate things. He's eager to see how the book is received and would like to write another, as he still has many recipes in mind.