Kulinárna kultúra Slovenska: výskum regionálnej diverzity

Year, pages: 2013, 155 - 167

At a time of powerful globalising and unifying processes in food preparation, there are notable tendencies towards a return to culinary traditions, in the context of the search for cultural identities within various societies. People are seeking out specialities of regional cuisine not only as a culinary experience but also as a guarantee of high-quality, authentic foodstuffs. In this context an academic project "The Culinary Culture of the Regions of Slovakia" was accomplished during 2010 - 2012. Here the authors applied ethnological approaches in the examination of food, with the aim of presenting the regional forms of traditional cuisine in Slovakia in the greatest possible complexity and , as far as practicable, in all relevant connections. This cultural phenomenon was analysed in twenty two regions of Slovakia in the first half of the 20th century. Each region was presented in its historical, economic, social, ethnic, religious and ethnographic contexts. The opening section on regional cuisine was devoted to traditional modes of preparing and consuming foods, with a presentation of kitchen equipment, techniques of boiling and roasting, and modes of consuming foods inside and outside of home. Subsequent segments were devoted to foods prepared from basic foodstuffs: cereals, cabbage, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, milk, meat, eggs. Using this approach, the authors sought to give a more detailed presentation of the range and frequency of fundamental foodstuffs in the preparation of foods, and to confirm the assumption that there were marked differences in the higher Carpathian regions and lowland regions of Slovakia. A special section of the project was focused on regional specialities in the consumption of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. Also, a further part of the research analysis was devoted to occasional foods: Lenten, ritual and festive, which were strongly determined by the traditional norms and conventions of regional societies. The findings of this project focused on researching the forms of traditional food preparation models, which have shown the rich diversity of the culinary culture of Slovakia, not only bear witness to the richness of this cultural phenomenon but may also be used, for example, in gastronomy, the travel industry, regional tourism, and so on.

Stoličná, R. 2013. Kulinárna kultúra Slovenska: výskum regionálnej diverzity. In Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology, vol. 61, no.2, pp. 155-167. 1339-9357.

Stoličná, R. (2013). Kulinárna kultúra Slovenska: výskum regionálnej diverzity. Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology, 61(2), 155-167. 1339-9357.