Taste local

Marketplaces, farmhouses, bee-keepers, mountain huts: you can find good food everywhere in Slovenia

Do you prefer to cook or be served? In any case, local food is always available.

Green countryside is the source of excellent food with short transport routes to Slovenian towns. But the routes to food, lunches and tasting in the countryside are even more pleasurable. Hikers and other explorers frequently find their destinations here because of the cuisine.

Typical Slovenian dishes that serve as the source of inspiration for the creations of top chefs are still prepared in the countryside in the same way as before. The first Slovenian cookbook, issued more than 220 years ago, was among the first to speak about healthy food that gets mentioned so frequently nowadays. We consume dishes made of fresh ingredients frequently grown organically.

When the countryside meets town, the traditional cuisine is modernised while the contemporary cuisine finds an ally in nature

More and more gastronomic knowledge can be found in the countryside, while international dishes are combined with Slovenian ingredients.

Organic farms and marketplaces in Slovenian towns provide produce grown locally. Tourist farms all over Slovenia prepare traditional and frequently also original house specialities from their own produce. In mountain huts, where improvisation is often necessary due to the remoteness when supplying goods, typical dishes of the region are the most appropriate choice. The gastronomic heritage is a great teacher when it comes to ingredients, but also with regard to preparation procedures. Many bee-keepers are aware of this relating to their offer of honey products, including the masters of distilling, who make excellent traditional and original spirits.

Since we enjoy fresh produce, the variety of dishes changes with every season

You can try seasonal dishes in local people’s homes, restaurants in towns or inns in the countryside, at farmsteads or in mountain huts.

In the spring, we collect asparagus and dandelion, forest fruits in the summer, mushrooms and chestnuts in the autumn, and in the winter, we add goodies to staple Slovenian dishes that were preserved in traditional ways. A typical Slovenian lunch starts with beef or mushroom soup, but is also frequently made of any other seasonal vegetable. The same goes for the mandatory salad.

Although some of them are also prepared on other occasions, there are certain dishes that are a must on holidays

In addition to established Slovenian holiday menus, ask about typical regional goods too.

Shrovetide chases the winter away with krofi, flancati and miške, all types of sweets made of fried leavened dough. Easter in springtime is accompanied by decorated Easter eggs (pirhi) and ham with horseradish. When celebrating young wine on the St Martin’s Feast, home-made mlinci flatbread and red cabbage are served with a stuffed duck or goose. We bake potica for Christmas, a dessert also made on other festive occasions. Explore regional festive dishes.

Potica

Typical produce and products of individual gastronomic regions can be tried at festivals, exhibitions and on holidays in the seasons when they taste the best.

Slovenia knows how to celebrate seasonal produce. Follow the calendar of events.

– In spring, attend exhibitions of the specialities of Slovenian farms, salami festivals, festivals of olive oil, Easter potica, and wild flavours.

– In summer, festivals of cherries, strawberries, peaches, honey, salt-pan workers, fishermen, lükarji (onion producers), potato, prosciutto, bograč stew, beer, open cellars and individual wines.

– In autumn, festivals of pumpkin, plums, beans, cabbage, apples, chestnuts, and persimmon, and mushroom exhibitions and the St Martin’s Feast.

– In winter, visit festivals of potica, štruklji, sparkling wine and culinary delights offered at various Christmas and other fairs.

When street food and food stands at events spoil us

We enjoy small bites of food at the marketplace as we pass by, or when intentionally visiting original, frequently thematic events.

Cafés have daily snacks and lunch menus. At marketplaces, you will often find small shops with a variety of dishes, including fish and vegan options. There are bakeries and burek shops, offering Balkan dishes with Slovenian and vegetable fillings. The opportunities to socialise and try food at different stands at events organised all over Slovenia are abundant.