Of all the films I have worked on, this remains one of my favourites.

Produced by POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the episode is part of the series What’s Cooking. Jewish Culinary Culture, which explores how Jewish food traditions continue to shape contemporary Poland. I had the pleasure of writing the script and directing the film, while my colleague Mary Seidler joined me on screen as we travelled through Podlasie in search of stories, flavours, and traces of a world that has not entirely disappeared.

What makes this episode special is not only the food. It is the landscape.

Summer is perhaps the most beautiful season in northeastern Poland. Fields stretch to the horizon, village gardens overflow with flowers, and market stalls are filled with berries, herbs, and vegetables. The region invites you to slow down, to linger over a meal, and to listen carefully to the stories hidden in everyday places.

Our journey takes us to Białystok and Tykocin, two towns whose histories are deeply intertwined with Jewish life.

Before the Second World War, Białystok was one of the most important centres of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. More than half of its residents were Jewish, and the city was a thriving hub of industry, education, and Yiddish culture. Today, only fragments remain, but if you know where to look, the city still tells its story.

Tykocin offers a different kind of encounter with the past. Its magnificent seventeenth-century synagogue is one of the best-preserved historic synagogues in Poland and a reminder of a time when Jewish life was an integral part of the town’s identity. Walking through Tykocin’s market square, it is easy to imagine the conversations, smells, and flavours that once filled its streets.

One of the reasons I love this film is that it approaches history through food. Recipes may seem simple, but they often carry centuries of memory. A loaf of bread, a festive dish, a family recipe passed from one generation to the next—these can reveal as much about a community as a museum exhibition or a history book.

The episode also reminds us that Jewish cuisine in Poland was never isolated. It evolved through constant exchanges with Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusian, and regional culinary traditions. The result was a rich and distinctive food culture that continues to inspire chefs, bakers, and home cooks today.

Looking back, I think this film captures something that I care deeply about in my own work as a guide and storyteller: history is not only found in monuments and archives. It can be discovered through taste, smell, landscape, and conversation. Sometimes the most meaningful way to understand a place is simply to sit down at a table and listen.

If you are curious about Jewish heritage, Polish food culture, or simply the beauty of Podlasie in summer, I hope you will enjoy this journey as much as we enjoyed creating it. And if you ask me which episode of the series to start with, my answer will always be the same: Białystok and Tykocin.