Passion is a must in cooking, says MU canteens’ chef Petr Klimeš

“My current role can be called executive chef. While I do cook from time to time, the job is mostly about planning menus for eight weeks, as well as budgeting for ingredients or the monthly gastro events. The team of chefs from the individual canteens report to me. We also organise catering for MU’s various events, meetings, banquets, congresses or seminars,” Klimeš points out.

As a chef with previous experience in large hotel operations, he sees differences between cooking for restaurant patrons and students. “Students are very specific in demanding variable offers of meals for low prices. This is a tough request to fulfil due to the increasing prices of ingredients. Adding to the challenge is the demand for gluten-free, vegetarian or vegan dishes,” Klimeš explains.

ACS canteens prepare approximately two thousand meals for students of all ten faculties every day. “Since March the offer at all canteens has been streamlined to include five options including two “menus”, meaning soup and main dish, for CZK 85. Two meat-based dishes prove to be most popular; while the sales of the one vegetarian and one vegan options are marginal, and many leftovers must be disposed of. Students and faculty members alike prefer meat-based dishes of the traditional Czech cuisine, such as goulash, sirloin, pork roll or fried cutlet; not to mention the famous fried cheese,” the chef says.

The challenges of the large-scale operation that is the SKM canteen service include the below-average effort on the part of MU students to pre-order their meals via MobilKredit or WebKredit. “Masaryk University strives for sustainability in all possible aspects. Pre-ordering would make a big difference in terms of more efficient planning of ingredients and minimising waste. I wish I knew what the reason is, maybe class schedules. Even kindergarten and elementary schools operate based on pre-ordered lunches. This should be no problem at a university.”

Petr Klimeš has tried nearly all cuisines the world has to offer. As a chef in Voroněž for 30 years he tried several truly unique dishes. “I tried snake meat, as well as bison or zebra. That was a really extraordinary experience. We also prepared roasted insect dishes. They do not look particularly appetising, but they are decent. For a fish and seafood festival, we prepared shrimp, salmon or Canadian lobster. I will never forget the special shipment of two hundred live lobsters from Canada or an entire tuna from the Seychelles,” Klimeš says.

Traditional Czech cuisine is what Petr Klimeš likes the most. “Nothing can beat a good sirloin, pork roll, tomato sauce or goulash. Or just roasted potatoes with garlic and kefir,” Klimeš admits.

When asked about the musts of cooking, he has his mind made up. “Czechs like to pretend they know a lot about cooking, soccer and ice hockey. So it may look like anyone can be a cook. However you have to pour your heart into it and do it with passion because it makes all the difference. Experimenting might also be a good idea. Most importantly, you have to enjoy it. Just like everything else,” Klimeš concludes.

“Svíčková” according to Petr Klimeš

You need a lot of root vegetables, sautéed and caramelised. One does not need flour; just vegetables and sour cream. It may be a pricey dish lately, but it is worth it!