Ljubljana, Slovenia Food Tour
The next time romantic visions of Europe pop into your head, pause. Instead of fantasizing about visiting cities like Paris, London, and Rome, consider visiting Ljubljana: the capital and largest city in Slovenia. The people are friendly, the nature is sublime, and the food is unparalleled.
Slovenia is a tiny country squeezed between four countries (Hungary, Italy, Austria, and Croatia), as well as the Adriatic Sea in the southwest. It also boasts being one of the greenest countries on earth.
The modern architecture in Ljubljana juxtapositions the medieval and communist architecture, giving insight to its complicated past. During WWII, Slovenia was split up among Germany, Italy and Hungary; it remained occupied until the end of the war in 1945, when it becomes a constituent republic of socialist Yugoslavia. Slovenia started to distance itself from the Soviet Russia in 1948 and towards its own socialist path under Josip Tito’s strong political leadership. Slovenia did not become the independent nation-state we know it as today until 1991.
As a people, Slovenians can trace their lineage back a millennium and a half. Today, Slovenia is very much a Slavic country, but most people are multilingual due to its Germanic, Italian, and Hungarian roots. In the city, you will find that nearly everyone also speaks English.
A firm believer that the best way to understand a culture is through sharing a meal, your best introduction to Ljubljana will be finding a local food tour guide. I contacted LjubljanaYum food tours and they welcomed me and my friends to join their tour group. The small group tour size keeps this an intimate experience, and it gives you ample opportunities to ask the guide and restaurant owners questions over the course of the 3-4 hours that you spend together.
The tour met in Ljubljana’s old town at the junction of one of the picturesque bridges along the Ljubljanica River. The cafes and restaurants that line the riverbanks are packed full of people, even during the brisk winter months.
To kick off the eating portion of our tour, we started at a traditional Slovenian dumpling house in the city center, adjacent to the bustling central market.
Nearly every food culture around the world has their own rendition of dumplings, and Slovenia is no exception. Slovenian rolled dumplings (štruklji), are made from stretched, yeasty buckwheat or whole wheat dough. The dough itself has an airy quality, but when rolled together it has a dense mouth-feel. This dumpling house had over 20 flavors, some sweet and some savory. We got to try one of the traditional savory dumplings rolled in cottage cheese and topped with a buttery breadcrumb sauce. For the non-meat eaters (for which this tour is very accommodating) there was an additional sweet dumpling made with chestnuts.
Many of the traditional Slovenian dishes are meant to be shelf stable, as refrigeration wasn’t a common preservation technique until the 1950’s in Slovenia. Fermented cabbage (sauerkraut), cured meats, and stews that could be left out for days are staples of the traditional agrarian and farm-to-table diet. The production of hearty grains like barley are also found in stews, like the homemade ričet that we tried, because these grains don’t get mushy, even when cooked for very long periods of time.
This hefty first stop included multiple beverage pairings as well. We tasted a traditional blueberry liquor (borovničke), as well as craft beer from a local brewery. Slovenia is one of the leading producers of hops in the world, so it was fun tasting a selection of beers produced by some of the well known local breweries.
We then sauntered down cobblestone streets, through the fish market, and across the river to get to a local indoor market. Here we tasted an award-winning sheep and goat cheese. Most Slovenian cheeses are soft, as they aren’t aged for long periods of time. These cheeses proved an exception, as they had aged over 6 months. Dairy is a staple in the Slovenia diet, they even have vending machines with unpasteurized milk in the city center!
As of recent, Ljubljana has become one of the hottest food destinations in Europe. It undoubtedly adds this recognition to its famous chefs, such as Ana Roš, who is ranked as the best female chef in the world. The chef at our next stop is also one of the best in the country, and is known for his Slovenian tapas.
At the Slovenian tapas restaurant we tasted hokkaido pumpkin tapas with kumquat and apricot, as well as portobello mushroom tapas. We also tasted orange wine, something completely new and exciting to me. Orange wine is a type of white wine that gets its orange-hue by leaving the grape skins and seeds in contact during the fermentation process.
Next we stopped at a restaurant that showcased typical Meditteranean Slovenian foods. We feasted here on istrian fuži (typical Istrian pasta) with creamy truffles, gnocchi with Istrian Boškarin beef, marinated sardines, and fish stew with polenta. We also got to sample some Slovenian olive oil, and toasted with both white wine malvasia and red wine refosco.
We made one last stop at a cafe in an art gallery, nestled underground in historic Roman ruins. We finished our tour off with gibanica, which is a type of layered cake found all over the Balkans. This poppyseed, apple, and quark (a type of soft cheese) cake comes from Prekmurje, which is a region in the Eastern part which touches Hungary. The cake is flakey and creamy at the same time, which made it the most delightful end to the tour.
After touring Ljubljana with LjubljanaYum, I feel inspired to come back to Ljubljana (and definitely doing another tour with them) to learn more about this rapidly growing city at the forefront of culinary ideation. Most of the places we ventured to were local gems, and spots I would not have known to visit or how to even navigate to on my own.
Do yourself a favor and eat your way through Ljubljana with LjubljanaYum.
To sign up for a tour you can visit: https://ljubljananjam.si/
