Looking Back: BELLARIA 2025 – From Baroque Kitchen to Magic Table
The workshops were organized by the National Heritage Institute, the Foundation of the Baroque Theater in Český Krumlov, the Silesian University in Opava (Faculty of Philosophy and Science), and Milan Svoboda.
7–8 October 2025 & 10–11 October 2025 / Český Krumlov Castle, Bellaria Summer House
The practical workshops on retro gastronomy focused on the experience of roasting meat, poultry, and fish using mechanically driven and hand-turned spits, cooking on charcoal-fired stewing stoves, and baking ornamental period pastets and decorative marzipan based on Conrad Hagger’s cookbook published in Augsburg in 1719.
Tuition was led by the world-renowned food historian Ivan Day, alongside his Czech colleagues Prof. Irena Korbelářová, Milan Svoboda, and other experienced lecturers.
The workshops were divided into two sections:
- Roasting and stewing meat, fish, and poultry on an open fire in the original Baroque kitchen of Bellaria.
- Baking filled ornamentally decorated pastets and decorative marzipan according to Conrad Hagger, chef of the Archbishop of Salzburg.
Video: Roasting and Open-Fire Cooking in Bellaria Summer Palace Baroque kitchen
Video: Ornamental Pastets Baking and Decorative Marzipan Making based on Conrad Hagger´s ‘Neues Saltzburgisches Koch-Buch’ (1719)