Contemporary appropriations of culinary tradition in Slovenia

This paper deals with appropriation and protection of local food and culinary tradition in contemporary Slovenian society. Food culture is an important part of national and regional heritage, and thus has not just economic, but also political and social importance. As a segment of the lifestyle and culture of Slovenians, it has not been particularly closely studied by ethnologists. During the last decades, Slovenian ethnologists focused research on several related subjects, particularly typical local dishes and food products and on protection of their geographical indications and designations of origin within the European Union. In 2008, Slovenian Parliament ratified the UNES CO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003), a result of which is the work on the making of the Slovenian Register of Living Cultural Heritage. It is in this manner that ethnologists try to draw attention to the significance of local products and dishes that are a part of the intangible heritage. A number of interesting questions have arisen during this process, for example how to present the food culture of various social and ethnic groups that live in Slovenia; is the culinary heritage of Slovenians truly as uniform as has been indicated and presented up to the present; when do certain foods and dishes become culinary heritage; and if food and foodstuffs are a part of tangible or intangible heritage.