Marta Pozsonyi - 1, 10, 1000 women in one
Of all that you need to realize anything, is the will to do it and the belief that you will make it happen.
It’s late during our Zoom call, and Marta greets me virtually from her cafe - she’s as usual working long hours, the concept of overtime does not exist for those who work fuelled by passion and mission (and coffee). We haven’t spoken in so long, and it’s been a couple of years since I was last in Turda. No big deal, for our friendship transcends time and space, whenever we reconnect we take it from where we left it - which is usually what each of us remembers about the other.
IN HER GENIUS without Marta would be incomplete, I have known her since the beginning of her career pivot. I watched her endure struggles and never lose hope, she always knew everything would be alright - and everything always ended up being just fine! Always! She is a woman who truly moved mountains and accomplished nearly impossible things without that endless must-have list we all have in our minds whenever we set about a dream. Actually Marta has her own list… And she always had just about a pinch of everything allowing the rest to appear along the way.
She gives me a limited virtual tour of her restaurant, exactly 20 seconds from home she tells me. We begin…
<< You ask me how I am, Oh I’m very tired but very happy >> She breaks in a soulful laugh.
M: I’m doing what I love. I never dreamed I could make it, that I could realize all this in such a short time. I mean, I was dreaming that maybe in 5-7-10 years I will have a little bistro… And we have it now.
T: When did you open it?
M: Two years ago. We worked 7 months on the renovation and September 2023 marks two years since the opening. And I’m still establishing the philosophy of my restaurant, people still come in wanting a schnitzel … We don’t serve fast food, we don’t make unhealthy food… It’s a job in itself educating people, and I can see it’s working because most people now understand that we make homemade food using seasonal produce.
T: Well you can always make homemade schnitzel..
M: Yes of course, and sometimes I do. What I mean though is that in Romania every restaurant has schnitzel on the menu, along with pasta carbonara and pasta bolognese, plus a few soups. And in the past couple of years, restaurants did start to serve a mix of modern and traditional foods, making healthier options available, however, it’s hard to change and it’s harder to change people’s habits.
T: What’s on your menu?
M: I don’t have à la carte. Actually, after two years, I now cook over 100 menus per day during the week: for children at the nursery, kindergarten, after-school and the professional team of handball. In the first year, we functioned only with one menu of the day and 5 menus à la carte, but it was very difficult. I didn’t have ingredients in the storage room, I only worked with fresh produce. It was also difficult because I was alone all the time, yes I do have colleagues it’s not the same, they’re not me and I’m the only one who knows everything - basically a disaster. Nonetheless, we survived, and then I changed things up. Today the restaurant works with private contracts and on a reservation-only basis. From Monday to Friday, I have the handball team come to eat breakfast and lunch; and I prepare breakfast, lunch and two snacks (one being a fruit and one a homemade pastry) to be delivered daily to the schools. Occasionally we do parties and weddings.
T: Marta, I’ve held you in high regard since the very first time we met… 10 years ago?
M: More, I think it’s 11 or 12 years ago.
T: I was in my second year of uni, you were scouting for students who’d volunteer to help you organise the first Gastronomic Campus for kids in Romania. I had no idea, nor did I know what I could teach them but I jumped straight in.
(She runs to the kitchen to check up on the food being cooked - sorry, she says with a smile and we resume)
See, the majority of people, women, myself included, have these big dreams or big projects they want to accomplish but block themselves before even trying because they immediately make a list of all the things they don’t have. Not having money is actually the biggest deterrent. You never seemed to be put off by not having enough money, or embarrassed for things not looking perfect. You’ve always done it. You always did what you wanted to do. How?
M: Now I’m gonna be emotional…
(Sudden dust seems to have made its way into our eyes, but we kept ourselves together this time)
You mentioned money, I think… I will mention a few things which I believe were key to accomplishing everything. The first, or maybe the second of these, is that I never cared about money. And what I realised, of course not by myself - Calin, my family, my friends were with me - and more people told me it’s not possible than those who said, ‘You’ll make it.’ … So what we realised, normally would cost a lot of money, I mean 100s of thousands of euros. If I had to write down how much we’ve spent throughout the years, I wouldn’t be able to put it on the paper where I got the money, for example. Before we opened this place, you know I had the kitchen at the school and I used it for small to medium contracts, people would order me cakes or request catering for conferences - I was doing this even without permits because people trusted me. I dared take these contracts and I started many years ago to buy equipment for the kitchen I dreamt of having one day.
(She goes to the kitchen again - it’s the last time, the apple cake is finished and ready for tomorrow. She lights up a cigarette and says…)
I forgot what we were saying…
T: You were collecting kitchen equipment for years…
M: Ah yes, so when we opened… Oh, that’s another story, but you’re recording so you’ll be able to rearrange it. When I rented this place in March 2021, I had only 4000 Euros which had to come from Hungary. This place used to be a kindergarten, they closed and I took it 3 days later. I was certain that with 4000 Euros I’d renovate everything. I think in the first 6 months we spent about 50’000 Euros! On the surface the place looked perfect, in reality, we had to start from zero, and gas and electricity had to be redone. After that, we had to build the kitchen and the washing up place. Did I mention we have a 300sqm courtyard too that needed maintenance? More than the money, it was a huge workload for me, my family and anybody who got involved. Anyway, normally what we did would cost much more. We did it somehow, probably because I still don’t care about money, I mean I try and learn to make money because we have huge expenses that need to be covered at all times. Enough talk about money, you got the idea. Now, second on this list … How did I realise all this? Because I believed all the time. During my childhood I was not appreciated - I often think about this and only talk about it with my very closest friends - probably because in my childhood I didn’t feel appreciated, I wanted to create, to make something so that I would be appreciated. Not that I want to be praised, but I probably got this drive from my childhood: to succeed, to create, to make something new, to leave something behind.
T: Well, I’ve been always admirative of you.
M: Thank you, I know.
T: How did you fall in love with cooking? And is it cooking that you love, or is it more hosting? Or teaching?
M: Let’s say people and food. And I love it. I mean, of course, people pay - I usually underprice, I cannot ask for a fair price… I mean my clients are even telling me, ‘Marta this is too little!’ And you know why? I know why, because for over ten years working in my organisation - Slow Food Turda - I was short on money. This also meant that me and my family never had enough money to go eat nice food in restaurants. We could never afford it, Calin was the sole breadwinner, and what he brought home I took part of for my organisation… this was the cycle, and I had a hard time learning that there were so many people with money who could afford my food should I raise the prices. I always have the feeling they cannot afford it, and I want to make good healthy food accessible. Anyway, what were the questions?...
T: I think I got carried away too… never mind…
M: Let me tell you something I don’t usually go telling people. It may be due to stress and working so much, which I don’t complain about because I love it, I easily forget things…
T: OK I remember now, I asked you how you discovered that you like the communion of food and people. You did many things not just cooking, you founded Slow Food Turda, ran the gastronomic campus for two years, organised international conferences on food, taught children how to garden…
M: I still do all that. I just don’t have time to post on social media about it, but everything still runs. I teach simple things now because I’m alone doing it, I didn’t have the time to organise volunteers these past years. I mainly help them to discover the joy of cooking and perhaps recognise the ingredients.
T: What is the age group?
M: Give me a second, I have another problem… I need to let the cat out. I have 20 cats, but only two are allowed inside.
OK, no more interruptions. The kids I teach are from 7 to 14 years old.
T: Alright, are you going to tell me how you discovered your passion which then grew in the work of your genius?
M: Before I set out on my own in 2009, I worked for a big organisation in Turda. They used to organise agrarian festivals and food festivals. The founders of this organisation were a historic family and my boss was one of those men who looked down on people. I worked for them for 3 and a half years, and even if we didn’t stay on good terms when I left, I recognise that I started my career there and they gave me the chance to discover what I love. After that experience I knew I wanted to work with people in the real sense, when I started organising festivals and went to the villages to speak to people, I did it as an equal. I never positioned myself above or below anyone, whether I work with children or speak to high-profile people… I relate to everyone as an equal. And I think this is another one of those things on that list that I started: we are all equal. I may know a bit more than you on this topic, but we can learn from each other. It has always been a no-brainer strategy of mine.
In the last few years, I got my bachelor’s degree and even my Masters, and even with those titles, I’m still the same. I didn’t change at all. I just have more knowledge. The attitude with which you treat others is very important.
T: Was there a particular moment when you said ‘This is it!’?
M: When I started on my own 12 years ago. I had nothing, I didn’t have money, I had some experience, I didn’t have the support of powerful people, Oh but I had some friends - a lawyer who is still with me now. Since I left that rich NGO, which is still functioning, I have done way more projects and activities. They have the power, yet they don’t care.
I created Slow Food Turda whilst at that NGO, and when I left I took it with me. I was the convivium leader so I had the right to take it with me.
So let me go back to your question, you asked me when it started… you know my little one, David, was 2 years old when I started to work at the NGO, and was 5 when I left. At the kindergarten they had very bad food, they served everyday food preserved in tins. That’s the moment when I started the school garden in his school - I think you’ve been there when you came for the gastronomic campus. That’s when I began working with kids because I knew from that moment, I believed, we have to teach them.
T: And it makes all the difference. During the first edition of the Gastronomic Campus… we had kids of different age groups and different backgrounds. Even though it was a little chaotic, the kitchen was packed with little helpers at every meal prep. And looking back, that’s when the real teaching happened compared to during our workshops. I later learned that besides your son Alex, the other two boys discovered a passion for cooking and went on to train as chefs with outstanding results!! There you go: we helped 3 kids find their direction in life.
M: This is the goal. Not everybody will be interested but we will find those who are interested.
T: That’s the power of doing things from the heart. The most life-changing experiences I had, were organised by people who didn’t waste time trying to make things perfect and by the book… You didn’t waste more energy trying to sort out every detail in advance.
M: Most of the time when I bring to completion something, whether it’s a meal, an activity or a party, I’m never pleased. I always want more. The concept of my restaurant here is not finished and yet I’m already thinking of taking it out of town and turning it into a big food bar. I’m not yet finished but I’m thinking forward already. Many people tell me that I’m a perfectionist, but I’m not. It was good, they say, it was perfect, they tell me, how can you think otherwise? Well because I know it wasn’t perfect, to the standards I wanted it to be. I have this conversation often.
T: And yet you do it anyway, if you were a perfectionist you wouldn’t have done even half of the things you created.
M: Probably you’re right.
T: What I admire of you is this fearlessness you possess: you go about it at the very best of your abilities at the time.
M: You know, when I got an order for 50 chocolate chip cookies, people requested that they all look exactly the same. I told them off, I wouldn’t make them with the stamp. They’d get my 50 cookies, some will look bigger, others smaller, and some may not be as round as the full moon. Now people understand and appreciate it. This example fits many of the things I do. And pretty much every reservation is personalised, at first, they ask me for a list but then I tell them that I want to know about them and what they like, so I can create something new they will enjoy.
T: You’re like a fine tailor.
M: It feels good to hear this.
T: Do you ever go on holiday?
M: Yes we started. … This year we went to Montenegro. Last year we also went to Montenegro. But next year we will go somewhere else. A few years ago I realised, after we finished this place, that with Alex my oldest son, we used to travel around, but with David we didn’t because we had to work all the time. Now that we have our littlest son, I told myself we need to make time. Of course, Calin tells me we don’t have money to travel, Oh but we will get the money, I always tell him. For example, we booked for Montenegro in March to leave on August 27th and 2 days before we still didn’t have money yet. But we had a big party the day before we had to leave, so we got the money and were fine! We always find a way. Every time I have moments of crisis, always something good comes up. We can always find a way to solve things.
T: What do you do in your free time? What do you do on vacation?
M: Wow, when we left in August, for 3 days I was sick. No, not sick… I didn’t know how to not do anything. And after those initial days, I was ok. I went to the sauna, lay on the beach… Because we are both so tired, we don’t have the motivation to do all the touristy stuff. We just relaxed and went to restaurants. Also, because we have Viktor the littlest one with us, who’ll soon turn 6, we need to adapt to him - and he needs the aquapark, so we do that.
T: I’ve got my last question for you, then I’ll call you on my mobile for a personal chat. Why do you do it all?
M: Because I want to change something.
(There you go dust finding its way into her eyes) I’m sure that if I stop now, I have already made some changes in my community. I don’t dare believe nationally or worldwide, but at least here where I am I made some changes. When I read people’s reviews, or when people come back to me, I feel their gratitude for the good food. I know I changed something and am on my way to change something. I want to make good and I believe now that I’m doing good in different ways.
Marta’s restaurant is called Centrul Gastronomic Turda.
Here is a woman who has more power than the powerful men in a suit. Marta doesn’t fathom the word ‘impossible’, if she wants to do something she finds a way - or multiple ways. During our private chat post-interview, we spoke about our partners and how grateful we are to be supported in our ventures… even when they don’t make much financial sense. But some women, although it’s hard to comprehend in this time and age, truthfully don’t run after cash. They aren’t after the riches because they are soulfully abundant. They are after creating something new and making this new thing accessible.
Some women are vast, they are entire worlds on their own. What does Marta do? Marta’s doing is in constant becoming, today she has a restaurant, tomorrow it may be something else.
