The importance and objectives of projects aimed at safeguarding food heritage. Register of the intangible cultural Heritage, Etnofolk and Alpfoodway

Unlike other cultural phenomena, the food of Europe s populations is a poorly researched area of life and culture, and few historical, ethnological, sociological, or anthropological studies have addressed the theme. Similarly, such studies are rare in Slovenia, and in the decades following the Second World War they were limited to addressing the festive and everyday dishes of the peasant population, while other themes related to food and nourishment, social groups, or individual areas were not researched. But these research aspects have become increasingly important and they are included in UNESCO s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003). In the past decade, several major projects about food culture and culinary heritage have been carried out in the European countries. This article addresses the Slovene projects about food, in particular the work of the researchers of the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology ZRC SAZU, who in the past decade participated in studying food heritage as part of projects of the Register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Etnofolk and AlpFoodway.