country Essentials · 12 foods
Slovenia Essentials
A considered first route through Slovenia: the foods that carry its everyday habits, celebrations, ingredients, and memory.
Explore all Slovenia foods →THE
ESSENTIALS
The complete shortlist
12 foods to know.
Each selection includes the reason it belongs here—so this is a guide, not just a pile of names.
Slovenia
Carniolan Sausage
Kranjska klobasa
Coarse pork sausage with a wooden skewer through the ends
Slovenia
Potica
Rolled walnut cake baked in a fluted ring for Christmas and Easter
Slovenia
Štruklji
Dough rolled around curd and tarragon, boiled in a cloth and sliced into rounds.
Upper Carniola, Slovenia
Bled Cream Cake
Blejska kremna rezina
Custard and cream between puff pastry, made to the same 1953 hotel recipe above Lake Bled.
Slovenia
Ričet
Pearl barley, beans and a smoked pork bone simmer into a thick Slovenian one-pot meal for cold days.
Slovenian Littoral, Slovenia
Karst Prosciutto
Kraški pršut
Pork leg cured by the burja wind on the Karst plateau, never smoked, twelve months minimum.
Slovenian Littoral, Slovenia
Idrija Žlikrofi
Idrijski žlikrofi
Pinched potato dumplings whose crown shape is protected by law and made only in Idrija.
Slovenia
Žganci
Buckwheat flour broken into rough crumbs with cracklings, the supper of the Slovenian hills.
Prekmurje, Slovenia
Prekmurska Gibanica
Nine layers of poppy seed, walnut, apple and curd from Prekmurje, heavy enough to be lunch.
Lower Carniola, Slovenia
Cviček
Pale, sour, barely 9% field blend from Dolenjska, poured cool from a jug all afternoon.
Prekmurje, Slovenia
Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil
Štajersko prekmursko bučno olje
Almost-black roasted pumpkin seed oil, poured over salad and, locally, over vanilla ice cream.
Slovenia
Cockta
Rosehip-and-herb soft drink invented in 1953, poured cold as Slovenia's distinctive answer to cola.