On October 10, I had the pleasure of participating in The Icons Were Once Hungry, an immersive dining experience created by my friends at 2Idealists, which took place at the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce, Slovakia.

Andy Warhol, one of the most iconic figures of the New York art scene, was born in Pittsburgh to a family of immigrants from what is now eastern Slovakia. His mother, Julia Warhola, came from the small Rusyn village of Miková, not far from Medzilaborce.

The event explored the connection between traditional Rusyn culture, contemporary gastronomy, and the artistic world of Andy Warhol.

And this is where bread became part of the story.

I was invited to prepare several sourdough products for the event, but my involvement went far beyond simply baking bread.

Bread became part of the eight-course menu, but I was also responsible for creating two bread bars, where guests could experience our sourdough products in a different setting.

In collaboration with my local baking partners, we prepared traditional wheat and rye bread, buckwheat brioche, potato bread, and toast bread. Some of these products became part of the menu, while others were presented at the bread bars.

Also, there was another element of the project that I found particularly exciting: bread as part of the artistic table decorations.

Using sourdough grissini dough, we created edible decorative elements that became part of the tablescaping. It was an opportunity to explore bread not only as food, but also as a visual material that could interact with the space, the table, and the artistic concept of the evening.

And there was another detail that made this project particularly meaningful to me. All the bread was made using Luigi, my sourdough starter, which travelled to New York with me last year.

So, in a way, I was baking bread with a starter that had been to New York for a dinner at the museum dedicated to one of the most recognizable figures of the New York art scene, whose family roots were in Slovakia. I find this connection quite fascinating.

One of the most memorable moments of the evening was an artistic performance by Štefan Polák, who created a portrait of Marilyn Monroe entirely from butter, inspired by one of Warhol’s most recognizable artistic subjects. But unlike a traditional piece of art, this one was meant to be eaten. The guests were invited to enjoy the butter together with our sourdough bread, turning the artwork into part of the dining experience.

And so bread, butter, contemporary art, and gastronomy became part of the same story.

And I think this is exactly what makes projects like this so interesting to me. Over the years, I have been exploring sourdough baking from many different perspectives, from fermentation science and bread technology to history, culture, and human relationships.

But I am increasingly interested in what happens when bread enters a completely different environment.

What happens when bread becomes part of an art installation? When it becomes an element of tablescaping? Or when something as ordinary as a slice of bread becomes a connection between people, places, and cultures?

The experience in Medzilaborce reminded me that bread does not necessarily have to remain within the boundaries of a bakery.

It can become part of something much bigger. And I think I’ve only just begun exploring what bread can be.

Photos by me and Jozef Buhaj