Ana Roš

In Italy the name of the Slovenian village of Kobarid is like Waterloo for French people: it reminds of a very hard defeat. But now we are here report a triumph. Made of tastes and flavors. The same tastes and flavors that Ana Ros, born in 1972, fuses and separates with a very personal and creative ardour, transforming the highest valley of Isonzo river, not properly a region full of tasty ingredients, into a land of plenty. All this, in between the walls of a tiny and cute gostilna, renovated through a contemporary style at the bottom of a green hill, as a little and strong stream flows by, under the shadow of Black Mountain, sharp and snow-capped over waterfalls and rivers.

The owner of the cottage is her life-partner Valter Kramar, the maître/sommelier who is able to read through the gazing ball: he’ll pour you «the Slovenian wines which will be famous in 5 or 10 years» like Renčel’s sauvignon or Fon’s vitovska. These glasses are all perfect sparring partners for the recipes she cooks behind there, where all courses are manufactured by curiosity and cleverness, built at the audience of gastronomic congresses (mainly Identità Golose) and traveling the world all over Africa and South-East Asia, food worlds that dictates her several ideas. And where her self-made woman instinct is not succeeding, here comes the aid of Valter’s mother, a queen of traditional cuisine.

Ros had decided to become a cook 8 years ago, after graduating in Diplomatic sciences in Italy: she preferred to use the 7 languages she can speak in order to hunt and explore the gastronomic traditions of Central Europe, a heritage she never loses touch with, even when she travels far away with her mind. Deer and wasabi, duck and cinnamon (an atomized aroma stolen from her friend Massimiliano Alajmo), trout and fried weed: dichotomies quite often expressing successful achievements. Risks taken by a girl who knows that, if the voice of her exploits hit even Australia and Japan, that’s because of her inner demon, who continuously dictates her to learn, risk and never stop.