Mullixhiu Cookbook – MULLIXHIU

Finally, a book to highlight the quality, history, and the exciting future of an overlooked European nation and its food.
René Redzepi Head chef of Noma
Copenhagen, Denmark

The story of Bledar Kola is the perfect proof of the power of gastronomy. Food is the only key for preserving a terroir, enhancing its biodiversity, communicating its beauty and moving to a better, cleaner and fairer system. This book will make you aware that a change toward a better future is possible and that the secret is hidden in having strong roots while being able to appreciate, learn from and be in connection with the rest of the world.
Carlo Petrini, Founder, and President of Slow Food (Turin, Italy)

The consumption binge of in the capital of a post-communist country – and in the midst of it Bledar Kola with his little Mullixhiu, moving in exactly the opposite direction, back to the roots, to the grandmothers, and re-creating Albanian cuisine from there. That’s so far ahead of everybody else, that’s downright subversive – and not just thrilling, but really good too. Billy Wagner, Nobelhart & Schmutzig (Berlin, Germany)

This extraordinary book is not only about the inspiring marriage between tradition & innovation in the Albanian avant-garde cuisine, but about tracing a crucial pathway for the entire Balkans and for many worldwide emerging foodscapes. It is about humanity and caring and building bridges. Only Bledar’s sensitivity could make this adventurous challenge possible. Andrea Pieroni, Rector at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (Pollenzo, Italy)

And he realized something he had learned as a child: ›If you have fewer ingredients, you need to be more imaginative. If you don’t have money for food, you have to go with what nature has to offer. That’s the philosophy of my cooking.‹ […] It won’t take long now, according to the chef, until people are going to understand one thing once more: that food and identity are inseparable. And why shouldn’t he be right?
Andrea Jeska, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)

There is a culinary revolution happening in Albania and Bledar Kola has cooked himself to international fame. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)

Because Kola […] is not just one of the trendiest chefs in Albania, he is also something like a record-keeper and guardian of the local culinary tradition. A tradition that was on the brink of fading into obscurity. Eva Biringer, ZEIT Magazin (Germany)

Bledar Kola is one of the world’s most important chefs.
Essen & Trinken (Germany)

The book not only provides an insight into an Adriatic cuisine shaped by Ottoman, Greek and Italian influences – it also talks about an awakening country.
taz. die tageszeitung (Germany)

A highly aesthetically illustrated volume that arouses curiosity for Albania.
Julia Rothhaas, Süddeutsche Zeitun, (Germany)

Now amateur chefs get the chance to try out the recipes Kola has recovered.
Paula Lochte, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, (Germany)

Mullixhiu

Die neue albanische Küche

Cookbook

Suhrkamp / Insel Publishing

With texts by Ursula Heinzelmann and photos by Manuel Krug

Bledar Kola, the rising star on the international culinary stage, trained at prestigious restaurants such as Noma, Pied à Terre and Le Gavroche, and head chef of one of the trendiest restaurants in Europe, now presents his very first cookbook!

The traditional cuisine of Albania, shaped by the country’s Ottoman past as well as by Italy and Greece, yet still distinct and authentic, reinterpreted here in 70 recipes by Bledar Kola and the team at his restaurant Mullixhiu.

Buy The Cookbook

Praise