In the spotlight for 2021: Slovenia's gastronomy

The project ‘Slovenia -European Region of Gastronomy 2021’ focuses on improving the quality of life. It encompasses opportunities for education in healthy and sustainable living and the sustainable development of gastronomy. Furthermore, it enhances the national promotion of cuisine and gastronomy and creates synergies with local environments and cultures.

"Slovenia combines a rich natural larder and historic food traditions with influences spanning Italy in the west, Austria in the north and Hungary and Croatia to the east.

Pair this with world-class chefs, a new Michelin guide and world leading wines, and you begin to understand why Slovenia is one of Europe's most exciting new culinary capitals." (NewKerala.com)

Slovenian gastronomy combines a principle "from the garden to table" and rich historic food traditions, which encompass influences of the neighbouring countries: Italy in the west, Austria in the north and Hungary and Croatia to the east. One of the main assets of Slovenia's gastronomy is the fact that restaurants have access to local ingredients, which is reflected in the close relationships between chefs and local producers. Local and green is the way to go and a new 'Slovenian Green Cuisine' label which will become part of the Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism only underpins this.

2020 was a milestone when it comes to gastronomy in Slovenia: the first ever Michelin guide to Slovenia was unveiled, with six chefs awarded a total of seven Michelin stars and 52 restaurants included. But it is not only food that makes Slovenia a top gastronomy region. It's also wine that makes the story of Slovenian gastronomy big. In the recent years, Slovenia's winemakers have been awarded top global prizes, with the most recent one being the Decanter award. "No wine in our Top 50 is more complex than this one," they wrote.

In 2020, the Slovenian Tourist Board launched a new website TasteSlovenia.si that tells the full story of gastronomy in Slovenia and pinpoints boutique stories of innovative Slovenian chefs and winemakers.

That Slovenia is the place to go in 2021 show numerous bucket lists in the world-renowned media, such as The Guardian, Forbes, CNN, Condé Nast Traveler, The Financial Times and one of the top travel guidebooks Lonely Planet, which has published as many as three articles about Slovenia only in the last week: How zero-waste travel is becoming a reality, Explore 8 of the world’s most sustainable cities and Travel trends for 2021: long-distance hikes.

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