I'm Dita P. Jako Pecháčková. My family calls me Ditu, my husband Dituno, my friends Ditko. Our David surprisingly calls me mom.
I cook simply every day. I love it, always with gusto, quietly for myself. I wrap myself in a special bubble from which I don't let myself be disturbed and I think - well, about myself too, but especially about the others who then sit at the table with me. It wasn't always like that.
They tell me that I was born without an appetite. I don't remember anything like that, but I do remember that I really loved eating long breakfasts of fresh rolls with butter.
and ham, and cocoa, to which I secretly added chocolate cubes, I also really liked roast beef with rice, strawberry dumplings with cottage cheese, powdered sugar, butter and pribináček, and semolina porridge. With cocoa, cinnamon or grated chocolate.
I cooked for the first time when I was eight. Wrapped soft salami and potatoes. I don't even know how I came up with it. And of course pudding. But they wouldn't let me in the kitchen.
I graduated from high school, graduated from South Carolina in the US, and spent four years at the Prague Law School thinking I would one day be a judge before I was lured by American film production. But soon after, my family profession caught up with me: journalism.
I briefly wrote for iDnes and then one day I bought the first issue of Apetit magazine.
And I knew right away, that was IT. Without any previous knowledge, I entered the world of food journalism, the monthly magazine Apetit, as a food director. Within six months, I was managing the magazine. It lasted me five years, during which Apetit was awarded Magazine of the Year several times. Then came other food magazines: Albert v kuchyně, S Penny u stolu. I can't live without it.
But I also wanted something of my own. In 2011, I published my own cookbook, called it Dita P.'s Diary, and four years later, another one, and both of my cookbooks were adapted into two sixteen-part series for Czech Television by director David Ondříček. I also cooked in them. What else!
I married Marek and we had a son, Davídek. And also nephews Onďa, Jiřík, Štěpík, Hubert, Arné and niece Karel. For them and for all the children, I published a cookbook that I worked on for three years, Dita P. For Children.
Together with my first cook my tableware was born. I call it embroidered because that's how it came about. I cut a circle of transparent paper, embroidered a "house" stitch on it with red cotton, and placed it along the edge of a white plate. Then the designers came, we talked and ate for hours. And they immediately merged perfectly with my desire to have tableware that was simple but not cold. Decorated but not too much. And Czech. So here it is.
I live in Prague. I love Humpolec. My new family – Marek and Davídek. And food. I dream of a house with a garden and a huge kitchen. And also a new cookbook.
