Contemporary Appropriations of Culinary Tradition in Slovenia

Abstract

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 UNESCO 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.

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Članek obravnava rabo in zaščito lokalnih jedi in izročila prehrane v sodobni slovenski družbi. Kultura hrane je pomemben del nacionalnega in pokrajinskega izročila in zato ni le gospodarsko, temveč tudi politično in družbeno pomembna. Etnologi je niso pogosto raziskovali kot del načina življenja. V zadnjih desetletjih so se slovenski raziskovalci zanimali za več povezanih tem, zlasti za krajevno značilne jedi in prehranske produkte in za zaščito njihovega geografskega izvira in oznak na ravni Evropske unije. Leta 2008 je slovenski Državni zbor potrdil Unescovo Konvencijo o varovanju nesnovne kulturne dediščine (2003), kar je spodbudilo pripravo Registra žive kulturne dediščine. Na ta način si etnologi prizadevajo opozoriti na pomen krajevnih izdelkov in jedi iz vidika nesnovne dediščine. Ob tem pa se je nanizalo nekaj zanimivih vprašanj: npr., kako predstaviti prehransko kulturo različnih družbenih in etničnih skupin, ki živijo v Sloveniji; ali je kulinarično izročilo Slovencev res tako enovito, kakor se je kazalo do zdaj; kdaj določena hrana in jedi postanejo kulinarično izročilo; in, ali je hrana del snovne ali nesnovne dediščine.