2.3 Gastronomic Case Study: Slovenia

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As tour guides developed during the 1900s, they played an essential role in promoting gastronomic tourism. Just as the best early French guidebooks provided historical and culinary context for those traveling by car, some 21^st-century tourism campaigns publish comprehensive culinary guides, complete with recipes and narratives about cultural heritage. For example, in its multipronged transformation of itself into a gastronomic destination, Slovenia worked to codify (create a body of written work about) and to broadcast its culinary importance. According to the scholar Janez Bogataj, Slovenia began to create the conditions needed to become a culinary destination in 2006. The first step the country took was to create a gastronomic pyramid, with the top including “four groups of dishes that most emphatically represent Slovenia” (Bogataj, 2019, p. 56). Each of these groups represent the four distinct geographical regions that are conjoined in the country and the dishes that have developed due to their unique topography, soil, climate, and growing conditions. Beneath these four key geographic zones, which range from the frigid Alpine mountains to the temperate Mediterranean shores and dry desert-like inland regions, the middle section of the pyramid includes 24 key gastronomic regions with over 330 of their iconic dishes and beverages. The broadest bottom portion of the pyramid represents what Bogataj describes as “all dishes, all periods, and all social groups, and could therefore be described as a kind of ‘gastronomic bank’ of Slovenia” (2019, p. 57).

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Once Slovenia had constructed its gastronomic pyramid, the dishes it contained were showcased at Slovenian tourism events. In turn, the budding industry set about defining and writing down gastronomic stories that codified and contextualized—both historically and culturally—the nation’s iconic dishes and food products. This laid the foundation for what Bogataj describes as gastronomic diplomacy through which the tourism sector represented Slovenia as a gastronomic destination. Slovenia likewise turned to education in its creation of itself as a successful gastronomic destination. Finding it difficult to engage food caterers, the Slovenian tourism industry created an annual culinary competition for grade school children and published the winning recipes, creating young gastronomic diplomats, who often appeared at tourist events where they recreated their winning dishes. According to Bogataj, such gastronomic diplomacy and education “focuses on food as a cultural heritage, not in a romantic … manner, but rather as an understanding of the causal links between specific dishes and other economic, social, and cultural factors in specific periods and social environments” (2019, p. 57).

In turn, various local entities, ranging from small groups to companies, began to create and sell products that represented and promoted their regional culinary heritage. To award the best products and to publicize them to a broader public, experts began to review the newest culinary goods on the market. As happened with the rise of the gastronomic field in post-revolutionary France, tasting experts publicized the best of these products, writing articles and creating awards. Reviews, articles, and awards, in turn, challenge food producers to continually improve their products. Experts, in effect, publicize the best culinary creations. In this way, those products that provide the most gustatory pleasure and also encapsulate the nation’s culinary heritage receive accolades and awards. Such feedback not only rewards culinary excellence and innovation, but it also serves as a form of gastronomic diplomacy and as a means of promoting Slovenia as a gastronomic tourist destination. Tourists, in turn, purchase these products as souvenirs to share with friends and family. These products and the tourists who purchase them, in effect, become gastronomic ambassadors for Slovenia.

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Key Takeaway: Slovenia provides one model of how a small country with diverse regional cuisines can craft a clear, structured gastronomic identity. Its use of a gastronomic pyramid helped consolidate national food culture and promote it effectively to international tourists.
Significance to Gastronomic Tourism: Slovenia models the successful development of a gastronomic tourism destination. Its success lies in systematically identifying, codifying, and narrating its culinary assets—from iconic dishes to regional specialties—then using that structure for education, events, and international promotion (gastrodiplomacy).
Significance to Tourism: Slovenia provides a 21st-century model of how a successful tourist destination can be effectively established through education, storytelling, the creation of awards to promote high-quality products and services, and ongoing collaboration among stakeholders.
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Attributions