Where regional is very important

Regional value creation, local economic cycles and seasonal products. These words have been on everyone's lips, especially in recent years. For Carola Arnold from the Kleenen Schänke in Cunewalde, this is true in the truest sense of the word, because regional products are the basic ingredients for her diverse projects. No matter whether it's a cooking class, a café, a shop full of delicacies or her book: at Carola Arndold, regionality is celebrated in a wonderfully refreshing and diverse way. Whatever she tackles, she does with passion. It has always been like this. At the age of 23, the Cunewald native proved her skills as the youngest head chef at the large HO restaurant Parkhotel Weißer Hirsch in Dresden. After reunification, she moved from the pots to the desk at EUREST Deutschland GmbH, Germany's largest catering company at the time. When a new tenant was sought for the Kleene Schänke , she became self-employed in 2016. Now she was able to realize her idea of ​​creating a cooking and cultural workshop as a meeting place for Upper Lusatians and guests.

The Kleene Schänke is now a hub of regionality.
In her cooking courses, Carola Arnold passes on her interpretation of local cuisine. With ingredients and products from the region, she moves away from old preparation traditions. The dishes that the participants create together in their new, modern kitchen have one thing in common: they are basically simple. However, they still manage to surprise a lot. Mauke doesn't always have to be made from potatoes. In the case of a roulade, the potato can be the basic ingredient and in the case of a schnitzel the question of Viennese or Viennese style becomes moot because it is a carp schnitzel. The landlady shows her guests how to embark on a culinary journey with regional and fresh products and thus experience even distant worlds of pleasure. Carola Arnold is also active outside of her cooking and cultural workshop. For two years she has been cooking with school children in GTA courses to introduce them to healthy eating with regional products (GTA = all-day offer).

Together with organic farmers, she is involved in the slow food movement. There has been a cooperation with the Rittermühle in Herrnhut for some time. Two regional bread baking mixes are made from Upper Lusatian flour, which comes from grain fields between Görlitz and Löbau. 1,000 baking mixes were sold within the first four months of this collaboration. The collaboration with a regional pumpkin farmer who fertilizes his potato fields with the pumpkin flesh and makes wonderful pumpkin seed oil from the seeds is similarly successful. “I’m always looking for people with ideas who would be happy to get in touch with me,” says Carola Arnold, pleased about the ever-growing popularity of regional collaborations. “I can help with implementation with my experience, my contacts and access to regional networks.”

There are now many friendships with local producers. She brought together fourteen of them in her book “Carola Cooks”. In addition to small stories from her life and 90 recipes from her creative home kitchen, she also provides the relevant sources of ingredients in the form of producer portraits. Since the first edition was published on December 1, 2020, almost 6,600 copies have been sold. This success illustrates the great popularity of home cooking among people. During the Corona period, she relied on community, creativity and courage to overcome the crisis. For this she was awarded the Encouragement Prize by the IHK in 2021. “I am the most imperfect person I know,” says Carola Arnold with a wink. “And if I succeed in all of this, then others can do it too.”

Text: Granitmagazin
Photos: Photo studio Jörg Riethausen