Slovenian Food Recipes

Slovenian food recipes can perhaps best be understood by comparing them to those of neighbouring countries. This is due to the fact that Slovenia during its long history has been part of several empires that have left strong imprints in the Slovenian cuisine. Before discussing Slovenian food recipes more in detail i will present you with a brief history lesson.

History
In Greek and Roman history the region that is modern day Slovenia was referred to as Illyria inhabited by Illyrians. Celtic tribes joined them in the centuries before Christ. The Romans conquered the tribes in the region in the early years of the first millenium. When it became part of the Western Roman Empire after the famous divison in 395 AD came a period of invasions from Huns and various Germanic tribes. The Romans soon were pushed back. When Slavic tribes immigrated to the area in the 5th and 6th centuries they mingled themselves with the existing population that then was a mix of Illyrians, Celts, Romans and Germanics. In the future I refer to this population as Slavic. Various small states and entities ruled the people in the region in the centuries that followed, most significantly the Frankish who eventually introduced a feudal system. When Hungarians invaded in the 9th century the Slavs in the area became quite isolated from other Slavs, this is considered to be the probable foundation of a Slovenian ethnicity. The precursor to the Germanic Holy Roman Empire conquered the Hungarians in the 9th century. It remained in this empire, from the 15th century the powerful Austrian family Habsburg took over the reigns. The Habsburgs remained in power (though challenged in periods by Turkish aggression and Slovenic uprisings), also after the fall of The Holy Roman Empire, until 1918 and the defeat of Austria-Hungary in the First World War. The Austro-Hungarian connection is very visible in Slovenian food recipes of today. Slovenian soil housed one of the many fronts in the war and subsequently the Slovenians were involved. When the Habsburgs had been defeated the Slovenic nationalists saw their chance to independence and joined the formation of the Pan Slavic state that later came to be known as The Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The years after the First World War saw a strong industrial and economical growth. In 1941 Germany and Italy invaded Yugoslavia, modern day Slovenia was split up between Germany, Italy and the two puppet states in Hungary and Croatia. During the war a bloody civil war broke out between left and right wing forces, the latter friendly to Italy and Germany. The left wing and their so called Partizans, under the leadership of Tito, was eventually vicorious and very much involved in defeating both the Germans and the Italians. When the socialist federal state of Yugoslavia was founded in 1945 Slovenia was one of its founding republics. The president Jozep Bros Tito would remain in power until 1980 when he died. The 1980's were dominated by bad economy and a growing number of Slovenians demanding the creation of a democratic sovereign Slovenian state. Following free elections in 1990 a big majority voted for independence, in 1991 it was declared. In response Yugoslavian military attacked, it ended 10 days later when the Yugoslav army withdrew. In 1992 they were recognized by the UN. It escaped the horrors of the Yugoslavian wars during the 1990's. EU accepted their membership in 2004.

Slovenian Cuisine
The events of history is very much reflected in the Slovenian food recipes. The similarities in cuisine to neighbouring Croatia, Austria, Italy and Hungary are many. What this gives is an extremely diverse food culture, like in so many other Central European countries, the food is quite heavy. A wide variety of meat is eaten, dairy products and egg are common ingredients. Mushrooms is a national addiction, many times prepared into soups and sauces or just fried in butter. Fresh vegetables is less common than say in Croatia, however boiled and cooked root vegetables is quite common. So called regrad, wild lettuce, is picked when in season.

Some Examples Of Slovenian Ingredients And Dishes

Sir Means cheese. There is a big production of cheese in Slovenia, they come in many varieties.
Smetana Sour cream.
Strjena smetana A kind of clotted cream.
Pogaca Puff pastry type of bread.
Kasa Is a cereal mix that is made into porridge.
Palenta Made from cornmeal. Ie. polenta.
Prsut Italian style dried and smoked ham, comes from the Italian word for ham; prosciutto
Zganci A polenta and buckwheat based dish.
Fritaja A vegetable omelette.
Funsterc A baked omelette.
Krvavice Blood and buckwheat sausage. Ie. black pudding.
Bujta repa Pork with turnips.
Fizolovec Thick bean soup.
Zelodec Various parts of the pig cooked in its stomach, kind of a pig haggis.
Rizota Risotto
Zlinkrofi A ravioli like pasta.
Fuzi A bow shaped pasta often served with a tomato and veal sauce.
Njoki Gnocchi
Kislo zelje Sauerkraut
Kisla repa Sour turnips
Klobasa Means sausage, come in many varieties. The kranjske variety is famous.
Vampi Animal stomach, most often from cow. Ie. tripe.
RicetBarley and bean porridge.
Prezganka A flour and egg soup.
Minestra A vegetable soup. Ie. minestrone.
Jota A bean and pork stew of Italian origin.
Stajerska kisla juha A sour meat and vegetable soup.
Matevz A bean and potato stew.
Golaz The meat and vegetable soup/stew goulash has Hungarian origin.
Bograc Is an offspring from goulasch..
Obara A meat, intestine and potato stew.
Zavitek Is like the Austrian apple strudel.
Potica A sweet nut roll.
Prekmurska gibanica A layer cake filled with nuts, dried fruits and cottage cheese.
Krofi A jam filled doughnut.
Palacinke Thin pancakes

Slovenian Beverages
Both beer and wine is popular and produced in Slovenia. Rakija, a fruit brandy, is the most common strong drink; slivovka made from plums the most common. The Croatians are coffee drinkers. It is popular to drink Pinjenic, a fermented milk drink. Kislo mleko is butter milk.

Submitted Slovenian Food Recipes
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