Since I was a little boy I had two passions.Music and cooking.I was watching my late father the way he played the guitar,the way he was singing and the way he was cooking!I said to myself one day I will be just like my father.When it comes to music I inherited my father’s genes and I started playing drums at the age of 3 and at the age of 4 I started singing and now at the age of 53 I am still passionate about music.Little that I know that I inherited my fathers genes and passion for cooking.Cooking was always my silent passion that was left neglected since I truly believed that if you want to do something right,to stand out from the crowd and think outside the box in this world you need to dedicate your time doing just that and everything will fall into place.You may wonder why I bother?I can just cook for my family and friends and be done with it,but no,I am not that kind of person.I want to share my passion and knowledge of local Dalmatian food,the food that is influenced by other cultures and nations!The countries that ruled in the Balkans for centuries like for example:Ottoman Empire,Republic of Venice,Austro-Hungarian Empire but most importantly The Independent and Free Republic of Dubrovnik with his capital city of Dubrovnik,The Pearl of Adriatic that was established in the 7th century as a town of Ragusa by the refugees from the city of Epidaurum after most of the city sunk after the big earthquake that struck the town and that town is now called Cavtat,my hometown where I grew up.
Like in everyday life I like to ad my own signature to whatever I do and same goes with cooking as I don’t like to be told that I must play by the rules or the recipes as I truly believe rules are there sometimes just to be broken and that is how I inspire myself by adding that X factor to every dish that I make or I just improvise and transform an idea that I have in a split second,I apply that to a dish and that dish becomes unique.As I am good with my hands I like to touch things,feel them and same thing goes with the food I make.
I love to go to a local produce market,meet the people that sell their home-grown fruits and vegetables,getting some fish from a local fishermen that just came back from the sea with the fishing nets full.All this is natural,fresh with no additives like in the old times.Getting to know my suppliers is as important as cooking the dish it all comes together and the magic happens as we are the team and I am just a team leader!If it wasn’t for them I would be just one ordinary cook and that is the fact!
One more thing that gives me inspiration on daily basis is my family,my friends and people that I cooked for in the past and with this carefully hand-picked team of people I am now able to bring my kitchen in to your home or a restaurant and where-ever you are in the world you will be able for example to cook a traditional centuries old dish with just following my recipe that has been passed on to me from generations that I had in my family and there is no limit here since I am from a mixed race:part Croatian,Serbian,Hungarian and most importantly my mother’s maiden name is De Moretti and that De in front means one thing in Italian,a noble family,so yes I speak Italian I got that passion that Italians have about their culture,history and food!Another interesting fact that gives me and advantage is that I lived in Adelaide in Australia for 16 years and I was able to to learn a lot about authentic Australian food and great wine that Australia in particular South Australia where I lived has to the point that my wine collection was counting 600 bottles of amazing wine that I handpicked myself and since Australia is a multicultural and diverse country I had access to Indian,Chinese,Japanese,
You may wonder what is my goal here?
What will the future bring as we grow?Well this is what I can do.I can teach you where to go and pick fresh fruit and vegetables,meat,fish how to look for a bad sign that tells you that the fish is not fresh,you will see me with my suppliers,I will go out and fish with my fishermen,we will be in the gardens where things that I buy grow,the restaurants where I cook as a guest chef,all this is coming in due course!Would you like to see how we make extra virgin olive oil or how we smoke the meat,make wine that is known in every corner of the world where they deliver their wine that you can order on their web pages,well you are in for a treat since we can do all that just give me some time and we will deliver and grant your wishes. It is so simple.Just be patient and be prepared for a hell of a ride as The Art Of Cooking By Oliver is coming to get you!So are you in or are you out?Well I will not put pressure on you,you will have to make that call.I am here just to guide you and help you out as much as I possibly can 
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!Oliver Ćosić
