Guest Blog Spot: Cooking With Chef Daria Plaka

Daria Plaka comes from Athens, Greece but is actually half Greek and half Polish, with both cultures being of equal importance to her. She left Athens two years ago and relocated to Bristol, in the UK, where she works as a fulltime chef, running the central hub of every kitchen she frequents.

Chef Plaka’s big passion is fusion food, in particular combining Greek with British cuisine.

“I’m fond of both and believe that Greek cuisine is definitely rich and complicated, but that British cookery is misunderstood and needs to be exlplored by more people even if with only a little help from my Greek oriented style.”

Her journey to becoming a professional chef started many years ago when she opened her own smoothie stall In one of Athens open markets.

“I felt very liberated. The creativity behind it and even the anxiety to organise everything and be true to my customers kept me thinking of what to do next. So I enrolled in a culinary school, despite already being quite old.”

However, she managed to make her way through the age difference, long working hours, no days off, no holidays and most awkwardly the sex discrimination which is rife within the industry. Clearly, confident in her own abilities now, she says it took that 4hr flight to Bristol to really feel it. Although, she admits that oddly enough her greatest inspiration is a man; her father.

“I tend to cook a lot like him without realising it. He still tries new things, reads recipes and is always on the search for good ingredients. My fondest memories of food come from him oh and my grandmother from Poland, the smell of melting butter in a hot pan always takes me back to her kitchen and the times I would visit her in the summer.”

Daria will be sharing a collection of her recipes with us, all tweaked to be family friendly and easy for anyone on the go.

If you’d like to get in contact with Daria email :

dariap13@hotmail.com

Or else you can find her in our kitchen

 

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Van

    Have you ever thought about publishing an e-book or guest authoring
    on other sites? I have a blog based upon on the same information you discuss and
    would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would value your
    work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me
    an email.

    1. Daria

      Hello Van!
      Thank you for your message and sorry for my terribly belated answer. Please send me more info to my email and we ll be definitely in touch.
      Thank you

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