Ljubljana, 16 March (STA) - The European Food Summit, a meeting of some of the world's top chefs, "the greatest minds in the culinary, art and media sectors" and visitors aspiring to refine their palates, will get under way in Ljubljana today.
The event, which is running until Tuesday and is meant to become an annual affair, is organised by Jezeršek Catering with the support of the Slovenian Tourist Board (STO) and Turizem Ljubljana.
The curator is Andrea Petrini, one of the world's most influential figures in gastronomy, while another key participant is Slovenia's star chef Ana Roš, who helped attract several international master chefs.
The list includes Andoni Luis Aduriz, Jordan Kahn, Andreas Caminada, Christopher Pele, Esben Holmboe Bang, Leonor Espinosa and Riccardo Camanini.
Also coming to Ljubljana are author Georges Desrues, journalist Ivan Brincat, critic and author Joe Warwick and sustainable food systems researchers Afton Halloran and Roberto Flore.
The Slovenian-speaking speakers at the summit highlighted by the organisers include Valter Kramar of the Hiša Franko restaurant, Anka Lipušček of the Mlekarna Planika dairy, Mateja Gravner of the Gravner winery and Lior Kochavy of Odprta Kuhna (Open Kitchen), Ljubljana's popular culinary market.
The European Food Summit will get under way in front of the Križanke open air theatre with the launch of a new season of Odprta Kuhna. Also scheduled today is the Gourmet Ljubljana Crawl, which will take participants on a tour of the capital's key sights and landmarks, which will transform into pop-up eateries featuring signature dishes by prominent chefs.
On Sunday the European Food Summit, which has evolved from the Gourmet Cup Ljubljana, will move to the ski resort of Krvavec north of Ljubljana. The guests of the resort will be pampered by top international and Slovenian chefs, including with a cable car dinner.
The conference or symposium part of the meeting is planned at Ljubljana Castle for Monday. The main topic will be sustainability, which the organisers say shows that the event is about more than only haute cuisine.
On Tuesday participants will be able show off their skiing and snowboarding skills at Krvavec as part of the Audi Gourmet cup event and relax at the closing party aptly named apres ski.
All the events are sold out.