Forest to Table in Alpine SloveniaForest to Table in Alpine Slovenia

After breakfast, we’ll take a short drive, gondola ride, and ski lift to get to Velika Planina, an alpine plateau often likened to Middle Earth or Narnia. We’ll explore the stunning emerald pasture, meeting locals and learning about long-standing indigenous traditions still practiced among cowherds today. Later, Dr. Katja Rebolj, the leading forager for Slovenia’s top chefs, will help us hunt for flora not typically found at lower altitudes. We’ll gather ingredients for mountain tea, which consists of dozens of alpine herbs. After a day of gentle hiking, we’ll hunker down at a mountainside hut and, weather permitting, enjoy lunch on the terrace overlooking the Alps. Expect specialties such as fresh trout, a pudding-like fermented cows’ milk eaten with buckwheat crumble, and schnapps made with high-altitude spruce tips. After lunch, we’ll learn how to make Trnič, a hard cheese crafted in the shape of breasts—and most often served in pairs. (You’ll get the chance to take your pair home!) As the day winds down, we’ll head toward Kamniška Bistrica, the source of the river that winds past Kamnik, and drop by the Pri Juriju inn. Something of a time-warp back to Yugoslavia, the inn has a room that serves as a shrine to Josip Broz Tito. Covered in photos of the former president, the room is home to a stuffed beaver donning lederhosen, carrying a miniature accordion, and smoking a cigarette. Here, amidst this unique atmosphere at the foot of the Alps, we’ll enjoy a delectable dinner.

After breakfast, we’ll head to the town of Jezersko, where we’ll meet a local foraging expert and experienced mushroom hunter. With her keen eye and guidance, we’ll venture deep into the forest in search of mushrooms. For fall departures, our target will be the ever-elusive porcini, and in spring we'll be hunting the prized and delicious morel (and perhaps some dandelion greens, ramps, and wild garlic as well). Mushrooms can be difficult to see even when you’re staring them right in the fruiting body—a mushroom's anatomical equivalent of a face—so we’ll employ some sneaky expert techniques to track them down. For spring departures, we may even be able to collect spruce bud tips, which are used to first make a syrup (good for coughs and sore throats) which is then used to make a schnapps (good for everything). Once there’s ample delicious fungus among us (or after a lovely walk in the woods if we didn't happen to get lucky today), we’ll head to Stara Posta, an inn whose proprietor makes incredible schnapps-based liquors in beautiful bottles, each with a specific health-related rationale for drinking. After a late lunch—hopefully using what we’ve foraged!—we'll share in coffee, strudel, and a tasting of homemade schnapps. After some free time back in Kamnik, we’ll head to Mali Grad Brewery, one of Kamnik's six microbreweries, for a beer tasting and light dinner.

After breakfast, we’ll drive out to Bled, stopping first to visit Mateja Res, who forages herbs and flowers to create a local tea. Sampling Mateja’s homemade juice and fresh cheese, we’ll learn how to prepare our own mountain tea blend. Then it’s off to the crystal shores of Lake Bled, where we’ll board a boat out to an island. Once there, we’ll visit the church, enjoy a leisurely lunch, and partake in a potica-making workshop at a cafe dedicated to the beloved national dessert. Back ashore, enjoy some free time before heading to Zasip, a village known for its dried tepka variety pears, or perga. According to legend, residents discovered that drying and grinding Zasip’s abundance of pears led to a decent alternative to flour during a food shortage, and it’s been a baking staple ever since. We’ll meet Bojana Pipa, a grandmother from Zasip and the informal ambassador of perga, and sample several dishes made with this innovative ingredient. We’ll step inside an old farmhouse, exploring its 18th-century kitchen blackened from centuries of smoke, before descending into the cellar, which has been converted into a shrine to homemade schnapps. While the base of the schnapps is pear, it’s flavored using countless ingredients, from sage to lemon, spruce tips, and even carob. We’ll end the day with a tasting, where you’ll concoct your own flavored schnapps, which you’ll be able to take with you as a souvenir.

Our morning will begin in the lush forests behind Jable Castle—where our forager-in-residence, Dr. Katja Rebolj will lead us on another expedition to gather herbs, plants, roots, berries, and flowers for our final feast. After a morning in the woods, we’ll head to Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, where we’ll meet up with our second culinary aficionado. Otherwise known as The Godfather of Slovenian Fine Dining, Janez Bratovž (or JB) was the first in the region to prepare nouvelle cuisine: rare steaks, carpaccio, reductions, and foams. He’ll lead us through a masterclass, using the wild ingredients we just gathered to prepare our lunch. Once satiated, we’ll take some time to explore Ljubljana, weaving through the central market and visiting a hilltop castle  Later we’ll link up with JB for a final, multi-course, Michelin-star-quality dinner that embodies forest-to-table dining at its finest.

After nearly a week of foraging in the forests of Slovenia, it’s time to say goodbye to the unique flavors, flora, and friends we’ve met along the way. Head to the airport or on to your next destination. Until our next adventure!