Slovenia's zero waste revolution

In the village of Šentjanž, the Repovž family has been farming for at least six generations, and the family inn operates on an estate that is over 500 years old. The menu is still based on products from their own organic farm: salads, cabbages, beans, potatoes and various grains. They do not keep animals, and the ingredients they cannot produce themselves are purchased from small farms and producers in the area. The relationship is direct and based on trust, and the daily harvest is often delivered to the inn by the farmers themselves, in crates or baskets. This puts the issue of transport distances and packaging into a different light.

In the kitchen, preservation and fermentation are long-standing techniques, and they strive to make the most of raw materials. Beet greens are made into oil or powder, and stale bread is made into crispy snacks or dumplings. Minimizing waste is not a separate concept, but a practice that stems from the family’s farming culture. As Repovž puts it, for generations it was natural to farm from what the land gave, and waste was simply not an option.

Freshwater trout, button mushrooms: Restaurant Plesnik

In the restaurant of the Hotel Plesnik, in collaboration with chef Janez Bratovž, they work with ingredients that are closely linked to the surrounding landscape: freshwater trout and mushrooms collected in the forest in the spring. Minimizing waste is also an important aspect of the kitchen's operation. Guests order their food in advance, and the meat is purchased in larger, prime cuts, then cut and processed on site, so that every part of the raw material is utilized.

This means that there is little waste, and organic waste is returned to the kitchen garden as compost, where herbs such as sage and thyme grow. Preparations for the long Alpine winters are also made: vegetables are dried, pickled and fermented, pine buds are made into syrup, and excess trout roe is freeze-dried with the help of a local partner.

The intense, crunchy, almost explosive flavoring produced in this way was originally an attempt to reduce waste, but has now become a characteristic element of the kitchen.

Alpine ingredients, contemporary cuisine: Milka

Chef David Žefran consciously avoids the term “sustainability,” which he often sees as an empty buzzword. He believes in responsible operation, which is reflected in everyday decisions, rather than a predetermined concept.

Milka offers a single tasting menu, with ingredients sourced largely from within a 150-kilometer radius of the restaurant. The dishes reflect the character of the surrounding wild, mountainous landscape: from dumplings filled with heart ragout to beetroot with bear fat and caviar. The menu follows the changing Alpine seasons, so the dishes are constantly evolving.

In addition to using less popular cuts of meat and offal, they also use a number of other techniques to reduce waste. Leftover bread is used to brew beer, vegetable and fish scraps are used to make garum, miso, vinegar and various fermented ingredients, and once a week they cook for the local food bank. Beetroot and other vegetable scraps are fed to the hens, the kitchen is powered by heat pump systems, and guests are served filtered tap water.

For Žefran, this is primarily about everyday operations: making the restaurant make more responsible decisions every day. It is also a professional and creative challenge.

A cuisine based on community roots: Hisa Linhart

In the heart of Radovljica's old town, Hiša Linhart is a hotel, restaurant and culinary school, where chef Uroš Štefelin presents his own interpretation of Slovenian cuisine. "I am a country chef," he says, and it's true: each of his dishes is connected to an original taste or childhood memory.

Ingredients, including rainbow trout smoked with apples, come from well-known small producers, while long-forgotten local specialties are reimagined in a contemporary form. One such example is the tepka pear, which was traditionally dried and used as flour.

Preserving old methods is an important part of the operation: ingredients are delivered in crates and glass bottles that are returned to the producers and refilled, meat use is restrained and waste is minimal. The approach also applies to the plates. The restaurant uses plates handmade by local people with special needs, which are not thrown away even if they break: damaged pieces are turned into works of art.

For Štefelin, it's not just about preserving ingredients and traditions, but also about the future of the local community. The dishes are connected to the environment, the producers, and the collaborating partners.

Exceptional and sustainable: Galerija okusov

Creating a restaurant from scratch is a challenge, but it also offers a rare freedom: the opportunity to make every detail of the operation reflect your own way of thinking. In the case of Galerija okusov, this meant sustainability from the beginning, which has now become a natural part of everyday operations.

Ingredients come from over fifty local farms and producers, or from the company's own garden. Surpluses are preserved and fermented, and the traditional pig slaughtering process ensures that almost nothing goes to waste.

Waste is not seen as a problem here, but as a resource: even trout skin is given a new role – cleaned, dried and fried until crispy, it is served on the plate as a snack or side dish.

At the bar, kombuchas, infusions, and bitters give new life to ingredients, while filtered tap water is served in unique glass pitchers.

According to the approach, limitations do not hinder, but rather guide in a creative direction: fermentation, gathering, full use of raw materials, and conscious portioning all contribute to making dishes not simpler, but more exciting.