The world of gastronomy is not just about cooks and pastry chefs. To be a truly successful and consistent brand, you need more than one profession and vision. With Bianka Geiger, half an hour is enough to know you're in good hands.
Bianka Geiger: design and gastronomy sensation, creator. She graduated from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), which has since helped her to think in many different ways in planning, strategizing, design and gastronomy at the same time. She works with restaurants and chefs on branding, in addition to creating many other projects. Her work is greatly aided by her humility, curiosity and wide knowledge of the industry.
What is the job of a gastro-genius and who comes to see you?
Gastronomy is very complex and it takes many small elements to make an impact with and through it. In addition to highly qualified chefs and pastry chefs, it usually takes a different kind of thinking and approach to make a brand, a restaurant, a menu, a dish perfect. That's where I come in. I like to say that I'm like the egg in a sponge cake, bringing the elements or areas together. As a gastronomic designer, I try to incorporate all the tools of design into gastronomy, and I connect the necessary professionals with the client.
“There are areas that someone else simply knows better.“
I'm thinking of a good gastro-photographer or designer, or even a kitchen technologist. Everyone is best at their own micro-area and can give advice in that area. It starts a workshop, a process of thinking and creating together that inspires everyone. We work until we achieve the desired effect. The goal is to make it more successful, more colourful, more sellable, more self-identical, and the client gets answers to their questions.
“Food is the best messenger because everyone eats. It's art, design, a tool and an element - it's the true medium.“
You've worked for Onyx, Attila Menyhárt, Angéla Góg, and the taste of Zalaegerszeg is also linked to you. There is no way this is just a lucky star!
Onyx has a real workshop concept, with a team of more than 10 people. Different people full of ideas, creatively analysing every tiny detail and finally working it out. I was an external consultant at the start and it was a very exciting task. We have been working with Attila Menyhárt, pastry chef at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace in Budapest and Kollázs, who recently won the Central European round of the World Chocolate Masters, since July, with the final in Paris in October. I am part of an excellent team here, for which I am very grateful. And the lucky star is Angela Góg, who graduated above me at the Moholy-Nagy University of Arts and Design (MOME), so we know each other. She was the one who introduced me to the real concept and meaning of food design. Since then we have worked together on several projects. I also constantly strive to maintain gastronomic traditions and innovate at the same time. I like to present the flavours of my hometown Zalaegerszeg on a table, but I also work on new dishes. Whether it's bold pairings, outrageous spice combinations, or promoting healthy, sustainable ingredients.
You have a love project that can help a lot of people in their everyday lives. Can you tell us about it?
I believe that food can also heal. I've had digestive problems since I was a little girl - I love to cook and taste, but I'm constantly learning what and how. Lots of people have similar health difficulties, for whom, as a kind of „kitchen coach”, I plan shopping, write new recipes and alternatives, of course with the help of other professionals, chefs and dieticians. They can approach me either as private individuals or as owners of a café. The point is to live life to the full, or to put a new product on the counter that meets their needs. The name of the project is TREAT, which means care, healing, deliciousness and self-reward, and encompasses the triad of teaching, research and service. The aim is to open more and more people to a new aspect of food. Understanding and being understood is an ideology and a mission, which is the cornerstone of all my work.
Bianka Geiger works in both food and non food projects. She owes her work to its diversity and precision. If you don't believe me, check it out: www.biange.hu. #
Home photo by Krisztina Szalay
