Man, what do you know! Cluj-Napoca, the one with Untold and 4000 euros per square meter, has now launched a dessert that not only satisfies your sweet tooth but also makes you a cultural patriot. I mean, you eat a biscuit salami and, besides being full, you also help an artist make their project. No joke! It's called "Doza de cultură" (Dose of Culture) and it's exactly what it says: a portion of dessert = 10% of the price goes to a special fund for culture. Who invented it? The Daisler Association, with help from the Cluj Cultural Center, the HORECA employers' associations, and even the City Hall - the deputy mayor Dan Ștefan Tarcea came to the launch to brag that he ate one too.
Now, let me tell you how it works. This dessert is a biscuit salami with nuts and salted caramel core - exactly what you need after a shawarma or with your morning coffee. It's available in several pastry shops, restaurants, and pubs in Cluj. And for each portion sold, 10% of the money goes into a fund. That's not spent just anyhow: at the end of the year, a grant is given to a cultural operator in the city. So, you eat sweets, and an artist puts on a show or an exhibition. I think it's a brilliant idea, I swear on my mother's grave!
And here's how it connects: when I heard, I said "Oh man, and here I am eating biscuit salami from Lidl, for 10 lei, the one without culture." Mioara, my wife, says: "Hey, Costel, if you ate at these guys', you could say you're a patron too." Come on, I have a few bucks for a portion, but I'd rather buy from the store and donate directly to the street artist. But no, because in Cluj they're smarter: they make branding out of it. "The first cultural dessert in Romania" - that's how the initiators boast. And look, they brought together cultural organizations, entrepreneurs, authorities, and the community. What can I say, good for them!
Now, if I think about it, in our Berceni neighborhood you'd never see such a thing. Here, if you try to sell a biscuit salami with 10% for culture, people say: "Hey, but is culture edible?" And yet, maybe it would work here too, because we need culture like leaves on trees. Until then, I'm going to tell Mioara not to buy dessert from the supermarket anymore, because maybe she can get a dose of culture from Cluj, even if it's takeaway.
