Taste Slovenia project description
Slovenia has had an official gastronomic strategy since 2006.
The project was conceived and financially supported by the tourism industry and the Slovenian Tourist Board, with the aim of systematically and consistently using gastronomy and the culinary arts to promote Slovenia as a tourist destination. The strategy laid out a gastronomic pyramid in the country, defining 24 gastronomic regions, which feature 176 chosen archetypal dishes, and matching drinks, with an emphasis on authentic wines. The peak of the pyramid was designed to place Slovenia both substantively and visually alongside other gastronomically distinctive regions of Europe and the world. The strategy launched a new campaign of gradually promoting gastronomic distinctiveness, under the slogan Taste Slovenia. Two years after the establishment of the system, which has also covered training, marketing and other relevant areas that could contribute to Slovenian gastronomic distinctiveness in the future (publications, DVDs, promotions, events, etc.), the first tangible effects are already being felt, which is evidence that the system has been designed well.
As a leading family company in the catering business, involved in planning, organising and managing the most diverse events, Jezeršek is making some innovations in 2009 that are directly related to the aforementioned national campaign. The participating companies, with a wealth of experience, have been involved in all the campaigns to date based on the national gastronomic strategy. These included the preparation of dishes and their recording in a comprehensive Taste Slovenia book (National Geographic and Darila Rokus, Ljubljana, 2007), and a host of events, receptions, gala dinners, lunches and picnics based on dishes and drinks distinct to Slovenia. The response from guests, Slovenes and foreigners alike, has been excellent, and further proof that the approach is right came from receptions and events held during Slovenia’s presidency of the European Union.
It was for this reason that the Taste Slovenia centre of culinary arts was established at Dvor Jezeršek 1768, in the idyllic setting of a hotel and restaurant complex in a former estate in Zgornji Brnik. In addition to holding a huge variety of receptions, gala lunches and dinners and other events based on dishes chosen in the national gastronomic strategy, we are also launching a wide range of other produce. We will bake a variety of breads, cakes and pastries in our wood-burning oven. Guests will be offered home-made jams, while the finest Kranj sausages and other charcuterie and cheeses will always be available. Matic Farm in Hotavlje will provide pure apple juice, caraway schnapps, walnut liqueur and other produce. A representative selection of the finest Slovenian wines from all three regions will be available in the wine cellar. Everything, the service, the decoration, the packaging of the produce, speaks of a completely new corporate image, which is the work of well-known Slovenia designer Žare Kerin. The new Taste Slovenia centre of culinary arts was introduced to the media and the public in Zgornji Brnik in April 2009. This marked the official opening of the Taste Slovenia centre, and the beginning of its mission.
