30-05-2015
Tomaz Kavcic - chef at Pri Lojzetu in Zemono, half an hour’s drive from the Italian border – here at the entrance of his country’s pavilion, Slovenia. Using his hands the chef filters salt crystals from Piran, one of the country’s most important symbols
Were it not for the I Feel Slovenia sign, written in gigantic letters, you’d hardly notice the pavilion of the old Yugoslavian feud at Expo. At the entrance there are small street food stations making a little shade. Lighting up our way, however, there’s Tomaz Kavcic, Slovenia’s Cracco – and chef at Identità Expo until tomorrow night, with a winning menu on variations on broth.
He’s the one to introduce us to the content in this rather discreet structure, structured on five important symbols in this country bordering with Italy (it’s incredible that not all Italians know this). The first is also an emblem of Kavcic’s cooking: salt. Back in 2007 this elf from Vipava charmed the audience at Identità Milano with his salt plate. It wrapped meat and fish better than a steel grill. At some point he said, full of lyricism: «Salt is the piece of sea that didn’t want to return to the sky».
A mirror beehive serves to underline the importance of bees in the world’s ecosystem
Salt, bees and spas. The centre of Posavje, in the South-East, is one of the most important in the world, with all sorts of spas. While bottled water has a record concentration of magnesium. Besides, who hasn’t heard of Postojna Cave? With a million tourists every year, it is the most famous tourist destination, the only one in the world with a double track train crossing it. Something the pavilion of course reminds of.
The blackboard with Slovenian specialties
With this we arrive to food, to which, to tell the truth, not much space is dedicated. There’s a small corner at the end offering traditional specialties (see the list in the photo above). Our recommendation is to stock up on sausages from Carnia and potica cakes, mini-strudels.
Our 2015 World Fair Hotline
by
born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt
Letâs meet in Kazakhstan
Cuisine according to Elena
Will these be the fields of the future?
China at Expo between past and present
Expo Spain, tradition and future
Asia and Italy, a delicious embrace
The summa of Russian cuisine