The participation of the chef - Fejsal Demiraj in the Autostrada Biennale, the third edition

Fejsal Demiraj is a world-renowned chef who was born and raised in New York, but has family roots from Tropoja, Albania.

Fejsali's choice to become a chef was influenced by his grandmother Nifë from Hasi in Albania, who made the dishes like flija and chervish, which Fejsali grew up with.

During these 18 years, Fejsali has practiced as a professional chef, and has worked in kitchens around the world, including the "Louis XV" restaurant in Monaco with three Michelin stars; "Brae" in Victoria, Australia, named among the "World's Top 50 Best Restaurants"; and "Noma" in Copenhagen, Denmark, selected four times as the best restaurant in the world by the "World's 50 Best Restaurants".

Fejsali has worked at Noma for six years under the leadership of Rene Rexhepi, boss and owner of Noma. During this time, he worked as a co-chef or kitchen manager, managing the day-to-day operational work of more than 40 chefs at Noma.

He left his job at Noma in December 2020 to continue the project "Albanian Gastronomic Expedition" which started in the summer of 2019, a project that was made possible with the support of Rene and the Noma team.

The mission of this project is to document Albanian ethno-gastronomy, focusing on all Albanian-speaking regions of the Balkans. He has traveled to four countries and more than 300 villages to document traditional Albanian cooking methods.

While traveling and researching cooking traditions in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro, he realized how much he is inspired by ancient cooking methods, traditions and local knowledge of natural ingredients that continue to be used today. . This prompted him to decide on the next step in his career, to invest all his time and knowledge to develop Albanian cuisine into a world-renowned quality cuisine.

Highway Biennale

This year, Fejsal has been offered cooperation for two presentations by Autostrada Biennale through his research on the "Albanian Gastronomy Expedition". The first collaboration is with the artists "Cooking Sections" who open the discussion of how to consume food in the time of climate change.

In this collaboration, Fejsali has conceptualized a very modern approach to cooking traditional flis. He has chosen flina since he believes it is the traditional cooking of all Albanians all over the world. The recipe for this sacrifice is the cereal mixture which has the potential to promote natural soil regeneration (which would protect the soil from erosion) in the areas where these cereals were planted.

The wheat is of the "Dajti" type, the wheat which historically grew in the region of Korça, Albania. The corn is "Maravq", a type of corn that grows in the region of Peja near Bjeshke i Nemuna. The "Kallet" type of bean also has Albanian origin where it mainly grows in the area of ​​Kallmet in Lezhë, Albania.

The dairy component comes from Rugova and is "Old Maze" which is one of the most special products of the Dukagjin region and generally in Albanian cuisine. The second collaboration in the Biennale is with Fernando Garcia-Dory from the Artists Collective and INLAND Agency based in Spain.

For this cooperation, Fejsali has offered his many years of research to the "Albanian Gastronomy Expedition" to be used by INLAND, where it is discussed how different cultures use the land starting from the Sharri Mountains on the border with Albania. This collective cartography will offer alternative ways of experiencing the territory as well as the geopolitical implications of everyday issues of land use, food production and identities in the region.

It was very important for Fejsal to push his mission of the identity of Albanian cuisine through these two projects with the Biennale, through which he hopes that a wider discussion will be started on who, what and what is Albanian cuisine.