Outdoor culinary events beckon

No, nothing is more beautiful than the beginning of spring. We hurry to get ready for the sun, we look for free moments that we could spend outside, we sip coffee in the garden of our favorite restaurant and in good company indulge ourselves in tasting the gourmet pleasures that culinary events in the open air bring more and more often in recent years. The beginning of street or fast food goes back to ancient Greece, where small fried fish were considered fast food, sold at stalls, and evidence of similar fast food outlets was also found during the excavations of Pompeii. In ancient Rome, it was enjoyed mainly by the poor, who did not have a real kitchen at home, and it also happened in China, where servants brought it to the homes of richer residents. Today, fast food is commonplace, if not self-evident, but it evolves within religion and culture in various forms. It is in the 12th century William Fitzstephen, one of Thomas Becket's clerks, described stalls in Bristol, at which people offered hot meals, meat, roast, fried and boiled fish, chickens and small birds, more and less sophisticated prepared food for both the poor and the rich.

Awards for the best culinary "street foodies"

Three years ago, British streets were flooded with markets with stalls of hot prepared food, prepared mainly by self-proclaimed chefs and food lovers. Richard Johnson, a food writer, was so impressed by this rise that he wanted to encourage food vendors even more in the direction of promotion, so in 2010 he introduced the awards Street Food Awards, which attracted the interest of 300 bidders the first year, and the winner received a stick blender. »But a lot of them weren't good enough - they were men with vans and frozen burgers,” Johnson told the Telegraph. »We were in step with the times, even though the revolution hadn't really started then.” It took another year or two for the trend of street food and outdoor cuisine to really take off. While in 2013 the high-profile award for the best street food event went to Birmingham, and the award for the best street food collective went to Bristol, at the end of September 2014 it was difficult to decide who the winner would be in 13 categories. The best of the best was based in Yorkshire Fu-Shnickens, behind which he stands Ben Davy, known for its heavenly stuffed Chinese spoon fritters, poultry and Japanese ramen soup. Unexpected eaters or the audience chose street food Little Blue Smokehouse, and among others, the best snack, main course, burger, sandwich, dessert and drink were also awarded.

Today, London is not only famous for its nightlife, but also for its culinary markets. Dalston, a north-east area of London, has become an extremely hot spot for culinary enthusiasts with its food market, attracting tens of thousands of people every Sunday. These tastings and hedonistic consumption of food were found at events such as Street Feast or Night Tales. In Helsinki, the capital of Finland, food markets are celebrated Kauppatori, which is found every day by the sea in the embrace of the port there. The specialties are salted fish served warm or salmon with steamed potatoes. Increasingly popular food markets can also be found in Berlin, Paris, the aforementioned Bristol, Stockholm, Copenhagen, across the pond in Portland, Tokyo, Japan, Bangkok, Thailand and elsewhere in the world, including Tel Aviv, for example.

READ MORE: Culinary experience - picnics around the world

Open kitchen

It is from here that he came to us three years ago Open kitchen brought by an Israeli Lior Kochavy. Years ago, his wife, a Slovenian by birth, worked as a model in Milan, so they often ate out in restaurants. Out of the need and desire to try out several things in one place and out of a slight sense of homesickness, a fresh and open-handed project called Open Kitchen came to us. »Food markets are very developed in Tel Aviv. On Fridays, we go there after work and buy food for the whole weekend," says Lior, who came up with the idea of doing something similar in our country. The idea quickly bore fruit and found its place on Pogačarjev trg.

Unlike street and fast food, restaurants or catering service providers participate in the Open Kitchen, where you can eat or order catering, Lior explains, while culinary enthusiasts cannot register to participate, as is the case abroad. »Open kitchen is a promotional platform for restaurateurs and providers who present themselves to the public with their service and dishes," says Lior. »We avoid street food because Open Kitchen never wanted to be a street food festival. We wanted to translate the classic dish that we get in a restaurant into a street version.” Which they succeeded in doing. With Odprta kuhna, Slovenians are one step closer to the map of culinary destinations, because every sunny Friday (unless it falls on a national holiday, such as May 1 this year), our palates are satisfied by the variety, quality and uniqueness of the offer, which food providers must fulfill, and organizers making sure that we have a variety of dishes available, but never two of the same at the same time. On Pogačarjev trg, last year, in the desire to present Slovenian (boutique) brewers, of which there are more and more both here and in the world, to the public, it was created Beer & Burger Fest, which the visitors immediately took as their own.

We all love to eat

For now, there is no event that matches Ljubljana's Open Kitchen in every respect, but open-air culinary events are lined up one after the other. Four years ago, a culinary project was launched in 13 countries around the world Restaurant Day, which last year was an experiment, but this year it really reached our region. It is a culinary festival, during which anyone can open their own restaurant for one day. Anywhere and anytime on a specific day, four times a year. »Culinary events in the open air are part of popular culture, which has brought cuisine significantly closer to people than in previous years. She settled on the primary human need for food that we all have in common - we all like to eat well," Lior concluded the conversation about the trend of culinary events. Well, cuisine and the enjoyment of food have become embedded in every pore of our life and culture. Just think how we drool when watching the movie Chef (Chef), in which the passionate chef Carl quits his job and starts preparing food in an old truck.

There are more and more such trucks around the world and they are far from unattractive. Among the above-mentioned awards, the truck impressed the most with its appearance Hip Hop Chip Shop, from which we are served non-traditional fish and chips, inspired by the imaginative and experimental ethos of hip hop culture. Stalls from ancient Greece and small street food vendors are therefore spreading all over the world in various forms. With enthusiasm and taste. With open senses and exceptional culinary approaches. No, nothing beats good food.

Infomat

Street food around the world
Thanks to its low price and convenience, street food is consumed by around 2.5 billion people around the world every day. We can find somewhat different street food in Belize, where we will be served excellent seafood right at the stands on the pier. Among others, Brussels in Belgium, Ciudad de México in Mexico, Istanbul in Turkey, colorful Marrakech in Morocco and Bangkok in Thailand are famous for their excellent outdoor street food.
Beer & Burger Fest
Beer & Burger Fest, which will feature around 25 domestic (and foreign) beer providers and just as many providers of a wide variety of burgers, will have three performances this year. The first, spring edition, will occupy Pogačarjev trg in Ljubljana on April 11 and 12, 2015, the summer edition can be expected in July, and the autumn edition in October.
Open kitchen
Open kitchen due to its exceptional popularity, it also experienced a pilot in Slovenj Gradac last year, and this year the team announces that it will expand to other places as well. let's taste a wide variety of flavors presented by caterers at 45 stands, and this year the number of providers will increase even more; at the third edition of the Open Kitchen, we will be able to walk among a maximum of 55 stalls. Each season, about 250 different dishes are presented at the Open Kitchen.
Restaurant Day
On May 21, 2011, when he Restaurant Day experienced its first edition, 45 restaurants were opened in 13 countries around the world. On February 15, 2015, 1,375 restaurants in 34 countries served their dishes, including the Cat's Pie team in Ljubljana. The next Restaurant Day will be on May 16, 2015.