After many months of isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which a lot of people started baking bread at home, it was high time to meet in the open air. In April 2020, the group "Positive Food / Homemade Food International" was established on Facebook, where the residents of Katowice and other cities came up with the idea of a local initiative called "United by Bread”. Homemade Food EXPO Katowice Ligota-Panewniki, dedicated, among other things, to the symbolism of bread in the traditions of different cultures, nations and religions. Then, it was decided to include presentations of partner cities and honorary consulates in Katowice.

On 10 and 11 September 2021 in Zadole Park, the first edition of the Festival was held, where the following groups were invited: residents, partner cities, honorary consuls of the countries represented in Katowice and the region, representatives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions, city gastronomic schools, the Guild of Various Crafts and Entrepreneurship in Katowice, craft bakeries and local handicraft creators. In addition to interesting discussions conducted by the invited guests, the Festival audience had the opportunity to taste breads and pastries of the Jewish Community, the Muslim Cultural Centre in Katowice, as well as those prepared according to recipes from Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Germany, Peru, Serbia, Slovenia and Benin. Among Katowice's sister cities the following were present: Hungarian Miskolc, German Cologne and French Saint-Etienne. Others, such as Ostrava and Opava in the Czech Republic, Shenyang in China, Pula in Croatia, Gronningen in the Netherlands, and Mobile in the United States, unable to participate in person, sent videos with greetings and recipes, which were presented on a large screen on the amphitheatre stage and at the stand of Katowice and its partner cities.

The festival was hosted by Marek Szołtysek - a journalist and expert in Silesian cuisine and culture, and Grzegorz Płonka - an artist and promoter of Silesian culture. Musical accents were provided by: Etnos Ensamble, Maria Gorajska with her band and Jowita Hercig as a guest musician. The event was very warmly welcomed by the audience, and the tasting of bread from various countries, cultures, local bakeries and culinary schools aroused interest and whetted the appetite for the next edition of the event, which also had a charitable dimension. Bread donated by local people and craft bakeries, including the Rudzianin bread from the only active regional "piekarniok" oven located in Ruda Śląska, made up the exhibition. Afterwards, homemade and traditional baked goods were delivered to the Upper Silesian Charitable Society in Katowice. In this way, over a dozen breads and 25 kg of high-quality flour from the longest operating mill in Silesia, from Zbrosławice, were donated to people in need.

The next edition of the Festival is planned for May 2022. We invite small and medium-sized producers, artists and creators of handicrafts, bakeries and other local craftsmen to contact us and cooperate.

Contact details: e-mail: chleb.festiwal@katowice.eu; phone: (+48 32) 25 93 850