Why is a country dinner becoming the new luxury—and what does it offer guests beyond just food? In this piece, I explore the phenomenon of rural gastronomic projects and analyze how the audience’s perspective on the dining experience is evolving. The starting point was Chef’s Camp 2026—a culinary retreat on Mednoye Lake where six renowned chefs prepared dinners outside the conventional restaurant setting. The article includes reportage from this event, as well as excerpts from an interview I conducted with chef Anton Isakov during the event.
Why are six star chefs going into the woods — and preparing dinner there?
Или как наша потребность в заземлении сделала пикник новой роскошью
This roster participated in the fourth Chef’s Camp—a culinary retreat hosted by «Afishi Restaurants» and the We Lodge hotel on Mednoye Lake. The first dinner featured vitame-grenade with mustard oil, fermented cabbage ice cream with cabbage chips, and quail roasted over an open fire with polenta and potato foam made from fried potatoes dusted with sea buckthorn powder.
Dmitry Parikov, the creator of the «On the Dacha» project and head chef of the «Temu» restaurant, shares with guests in the gazebo how he picked the berries that adorn their dessert, while brand chef Viktor Shaidetsky desperately tries to find at least one guest who understood his reference to the meme, «This is Russian, damn it!»
