In 2008, past Head Snail Jos Baker paid a visit to Slovenia. She recounts some of her experiences:

The snail plays a large part in Slovenian cuisine. Not on plates – I wasn’t offered snails on my gourmand tour of that delightful country, though frogs’ legs are a delicacy – but still-life snails carved on restaurant doors and lintels, or proudly displayed on menus. For Slow Food is alive and well in Slovenia, where its symbol is synonymous with a return to culinary roots in an invitingly updated form.

When I was invited on a seven-day food and wine tour of Slovenia, I confess I needed an atlas to locate it. I found the chicken-shaped country (all of 20.273 km2 in extent), tucked between Austria, Italy and Croatia. You can drive from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea in 45 minutes.

This small area offers a “boutique” culinary experience: a little of everything to please the palate, while making the most of fresh ingredients – from forest berries (mouth-tingling in sorbets with lemon balm) to figs (irresistible in a chocolate coating).

Slovenia gained independence only in 1991 and had already assimilated diverse culinary influences from across its newly defined borders. In many instances the border is simply a road or river; and in the case of winemaking, vineyards can be officially in Italy, but if the winery is in Slovenia, the wine is classified as Slovenian.

Each region boasts its own traditional recipes, retaining the past while absorbing new trends. There’s an enviable plethora of prsut (Prosciutto) perfectly cured and sliver-thin, which came to the Karst region centuries ago from neighbouring Friuli and Venice.

Dumplings are widespread, but as deliciously different struklji: a hundred varieties with fillings that vary from tarragon, cheese or mint, to olives, walnuts, apples and cinnamon, depending on region. References to struklji concerning types of dough, stuffing and ways of preparation date back to the 16th century.

Kranjska pork sausages are so fine that they pleased the palate of Emperor Franz Josef, who, on his way from Vienna to Trieste, stopped at an inn in the region for refreshment. Told that there was nothing on the menu but “regular sausages”, the emperor tasted the offering and exclaimed: “This is no regular sausage. This is kransky sausage!”

Over the centuries this prime product was adulterated, but since 2004, when a group of concerned Slovenians met in the House of Culinary Art Jezersek in Sora, standards have been protected by annual evaluations of kranjska klobasa. The title “best kranjska of the current year” is very much in keeping with Slow Food tradition.

Delectable pastries set culinary standards: traditional Prekmurska gibanica (layer cake from the Prekmurian region) has been the most popular Slovenian pastry for centuries. Served at Christmas or other festive occasions, it’s utterly indulgent, layering phyllo pastry with fillings of apple, walnut, cottage cheese (raisins are a recent addition) and poppy seed on a shortbread base.

The pastry is unique, protected by letters patent to ensure the recipe is not changed in any way. Producers must apply for a certificate entitling them to use the brand name. (Home baking is not restricted: if you want to try your hand, I have the recipe!)

Vanilla cream slices are one of the main tourist attractions of idyllic Bled, vying in appeal with an Alpine lake sheltered by mountains. Here gondola- like boats (pletna) take visitors to a fairy-tale island complete with church and a wishing bell said to grant the wish of anyone who can make it peal three times. The feather-light pastry dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when a local baker’s son brought back a notebook filled with recipes he’d learned as an apprentice in Austria and Germany. His success lay in lightening the original version, which he considered over-sweet and too heavy. Not only did I try a slice (and bring back the recipe), but my hotel was on the shores of the lake, overlooking the island.

Restaurants vary from sophisticated five-star hotel venues to small eateries whose unpretentious exteriors give no hint of the slow riches within. But to English-speaking visitors, menus are a minefield.

What Sirova zafrk(n)jaca means – let alone how to pronounce it, boggles the mind and tongue, and as for Zabeljeni hmeljevi vrsicki… best not attempted. Fortunately most waiters speak English (a second language and taught in schools) and travelling with a guide is the stress-free, sit-back-and-relax option. Especially if he’s on the cover of the Slovenian FHM that month, as mine was!

It’s not only the cuisine that appeals. There are three distinct wine-growing regions, differing in microclimate, soil and viticultural tradition. Wine-tasting is a journey of discovery. Though you’ll find classics like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, many of the grape varieties – Rebula and Teran being about the only ones I dared pronounce – are unfamiliar to South African palates.

Highlights? Difficult to pinpoint as the country offers such variety. My mental flashbacks extend from the fresh market in the fascinating old town of capital city Ljubljana to the brooding Alps; quaint villages on hills, clustered round a church; watching harvesting in the northernmost saltpans in the Med using methods dating back to the fourteenth century; the mediaeval town of Piran reminiscent of Venice (you can see the Italian coastline from the seafront); breathtaking gold and copper autumn leaves in virgin forest and limpid turquoise rivers so unlike our brown mountain streams.

This as a background to a Chaine des Rotisseurs dinner in an inn up a winding mountain road cloaked in mist (memorable goose pate with fig topping); my first meal in Slovenia, infused with love and warmth by a chef who epitomised Slow Food (black truffles a perfect combo with polenta and potatoes) and lunch in a restaurant in a converted castle guarding an island in a lake, where a creamy soup of beech leaves and cottage cheese made music and lunch lasted well into the afternoon…

My tour was arranged by Insider’s Slovenia, a tour company specialising in upmarket tours in Slovenia, tailored to individual needs. For more information, see www.insiders-slovenia.com

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