Carinthian Slow Food Cooks’ Alliance and a new Presidium add Austria to the list of countries that improve the overall agro-food biodiversity.

The Austrian Slow Food Cooks’ Alliance is the latest to join the Slow Food network of 1302 chefs defending food biodiversity in 36 countries around the world.

So far it gathers 16 cooks from restaurants, bistros, cantines and street kitchens in the Carinthian region. By joining this network, they commit to supporting small-scale and artisanal producers, the guardians of biodiversity, by purchasing products from Presidia projects and the Ark of Taste, and local fruits, vegetables and cheeses in their kitchens every day.

A new Presidium has recently been established to support farmers and craftsmen and to promote their products among chefs, the  Bovec Sheep Presidium, which now joins the two already existing: Alpe Adria Klozen Pears and Lesachtal Bread.

Gottfried Bachler, Slow Food Austria’s referent for the Cooks’ Alliance, says: “The launch of the Cooks’ Alliance in our country is an opportunity for all of us, under the aegis of Slow Food and with the help of my fellow chefs, to get to know and appreciate our local products and their producers in a more structured way, to give strong encouragement and recognition to their work, and to promote food as the identity of a territory. We need to network in order to create special culinary experiences that broaden the horizons of the eater and leave an unforgettable impression on the palate, to work ever more closely with producers of raw materials, to take an active part in environmental protection and to ally ourselves with our customers in order to create a truly sustainable gastronomic model”.

The Bovec Sheep (also known as Krainer Steinschaf in German and Plezzana in Italian) is one of the oldest Austrian sheep breeds still in existence. While it was considered the most important sheep breed in the Alpine region around 1900, with its core area in the border triangle of Austria, Slovenia and Italy, it became increasingly less important in the second half of the 20th century with the spread of modern high-performance breeds. In 2023, the Slow Food Community “Krainer Steinschaf” was founded by ten breeders from Carinthia, it’s composed by a very colourful group from all the beautiful corners of Carinthia who have dedicated themselves to breeding the Bovec Sheep. The main objective of this project is to safeguard this native breed as well as to promote it locally and raise awareness among consumers.

Another goal for the Presidium is to connect all the breeders from different countries in order to strengthen their collaboration to preserve this breed.

Claudia Sackl, Krainer Steinschaf Slow Food Presidium referent, says: “We recently had the opportunity for a presentation of the new Presidium at a hotel on the shores of the beautiful Lake Weissensee in Carinthia, Austria. First of all we presented all the sheep breeders of our community in the presence of the authorities and media. Each breeder had the opportunity to talk about his farm, his products and to get in touch with the interested guests. After the ceremony, Hannes Müller, one of the best chefs in Carinthia, and 7 chefs from the SlowFood Cooks’ Alliance created a 9-course gourmet menu of Krainer Steinschaf (Bovec Sheep). And this is a perfect example of the objective of Slow Food projects: to create networks that benefit not only the actors in the supply chain, but also the biodiversity of a territory.”

The Slow Food Cooks’ Alliance chefs are asked to name the producers on their menus to make their work visible. They travel, meet, attend events and cook together.

Here the list of the cooks with their venues:

Alte Point – Chef: Bernhard Trügler – Arriach

Bachler’s Feinkost Catering Chef: Gottfried Bachler Althofen

Der Bärenwirt Chef: Manuel Ressi Hermagor

der daberer. das biohotel – Chef: Florian Bucar – Dellach im Gailtal

Die Forelle – Chef: Hannes Müller – Weissensee

Foodisourpassion (Privatköchin & Kochschule) – Chef: Victoria Latschen – Klagenfurt

Gamskogehütte Katschberg – Chef: Stefan Lastin – Katschberg

Gasthaus Messnerei Sternberg – Chef: Daniela Sternad – Wernberg

Gasthaus Poppmeier – Chef: Richard Popppmeier – St. Paul im Lavanttal

Gasthof-Pension Grünwald – Chef: Ingeborg Daberer – Dellach im Gailtal

Gasthof Zum Dorfschmied – Chef: Josef Müller – Klein St. Paul

Hubertushof – Chef: Thomas Eichwald – Velden

Landgasthof Neugebauer – Chef: Lothar Krings-Neugebauer – Lölling

Liegl am Hiegl – Chef: Elisabeth Warmuth-Liegl – St. Georgen am Längsee

Restaurant Moritz – Chef: Roman Pichler – Grafenstein

Trippolt Zum Bären – Chef: Josef Trippolt – Bad St. Leonhard

Carinthia is one of the regions where Slow Food’s presence is most active. A Slow Food Travel project has already been in operation since 2015: the Lesachtal, Gailtal and Gitschtal valleys and Lake Weissensee were the world’s first Slow Food Travel destination. Or rather, the region has been transformed into a Slow Food Travel destination by the local artisans and food producers who have always lived the Slow Food philosophy in this tranquil, almost silent border region of southern Austria.

For more information:

 Chef Gottfried Bachler

Email: [email protected]

Bachler’s Feinkost Catering, Althofen

Presidium Coordinator

Claudia Sackl

[email protected]

The Slow Food Presidium project supports quality products at risk of disappearing, protects unique territories and ecosystems, promotes traditional processing methods and safeguards indigenous species and local plant varieties. Today, over 14,000 producers are involved in 680 Presidia around the world.

Slow Food is an international network of local communities founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local culinary cultures and traditions, and to halt the spread of fast-food culture. Since then, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in 160 countries, working to ensure that everyone has access to good, healthy and fair food. Slow Food is the coordinating organization responsible for leading the movement as a whole.