Older housewives will be pleased to explain to you that žganci (hard-boiled wheat mush) are the pillar of Carniola and that they still like to prepare them today! In the past, high calorie foods with large amounts of animal fat prevailed because after a days work on the farm, people needed to replenish their energies. These most often included cracklings, minced lard, bacon and floury foods made from pork. Soups, such as the one made by browning flour on lard and adding water, or potato and bean soups, or beef broth, which was served only on Sundays and holidays, have been popular in this region for a long time.

 

Other typical foods include sweet- and sauerkraut, turnips, millet and buckwheat porridge, potatoes and beans. Food was mostly conserved by smoke, salt, lard, minced lard or air. A famous characteristic food of the Kamniška region is also trnič – specially formed herdsmen's cheeses made from plain cheese, which the herdsmen formed into special lumps (some believe in the form of female breasts). The cheeses were then decorated with special wooden so-called “writings”. They were dried with beach tree firewood, until they became hard after approximately 14 days. Boys and girls always gave them as gifts in pairs of two identical lumps, as proof of love and devotion. Today, only a handful of herdsmen from Velika planina still know how to make trnič.

 

For those who like to play safe - there are some  pizzerias, spaghetterias  and steak houses in Kamnik accompanied by the best Chinese restaurant in Slovenia, and yes, we do have Mc Donalds in the neighborhood, only 8 km from Kamnik.

Chefs from 34 nations took part in the Culinary Olympics in Germany  in October 2008. Slovene chefs Janez Dolšak, Daniel Kozar, Borut Jakič, Matjaž Cotič and Alenka Kodele won the hearts of the jury by preparing a menu for 110 people. For their warm starter they prepared grilled lake trout fillet, crayfish mousse, fish sausage, pureed peas, spelt wheat with vegetables, tomato concasse, saffron sauce and parsley pesto. The entree was a venison fillet with pistachios, rabbit roulade, boletus puree, young vegetables, polenta with pumpkin seeds, buckwheat pie with cottage cheese, cooked pear, glazed chestnut and juniper sauce with nouveau wine. For dessert, the Slovene chefs served a white chocolate mousse with roasted hazelnuts, raspberry ice cream and raspberry coulis. The Slovene National Culinary Team took the bronze medal in the team competition, and took two more bronzes and a silver in the individual competitions.