Chilli cook-off

Slovenian Chilli Festival – Lepa Zoga Ljubljana

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I have spent the last 6 days in Slovenia, mostly in the capital Ljubljana, but also a visit to a friends farm and vineyard plus a trip to the mountains. The main reason for my journey, however, was to visit a chilli festival to promote the Slovenian language translations of my books, the most recent of which has just been released.

Kuhajmo s Cilijem & Gojenje Cilijev

The guys from Ebesede publishers selling Kuhajmo s Cilijem & Gojenje Cilijev

European chilli festivals are becoming a habit, only two weeks previously I was in Brno, Czech Republic, for a festival which you can read about here. I must say that they were both a real pleasure, and this one in Ljubljana, whilst quite small was a really friendly and laid back day out.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of the chilli industry in Slovenia, I knew there were a few growers, and a few sauce makers, and that they are roughly following along the now established lines of… small greenhouse grower/start at farmer’s markets/get some bigger tunnels/make more sauce/grow hotter chillies/make an extract sauce/put chillies in other stuff… much as we have done in the UK. Rather surprisingly, the wholesale side of growing of fresh chillies & peppers, broadly covered by the word paprika in that part of the world, doesn’t happen much in Slovenia. Maybe this is because a little further south or east in Macedonia and Hungary, they traditionally grow huge amounts, and this is what supplies the shops and veg markets of Slovenia whilst the Slovenians themselves concentrate on crops such as grapes, more grapes, pumpkin, corn and buckwheat.

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The artisan side of chilli growing is thriving though, with the well established companies growing the full range of heats and flavours and manufacturing sauces to a highly professional standard. Slovenia has some fairly stringent rules when it comes to food manufacture. You can’t use your home kitchen if you are going to sell stuff. You must have a separate HACCP approved production facility, albeit a basic one. This creates a barrier to entry into the market that we don’t have in the UK where a quick sign off with the health inspector allows us to cook and sell low risk products in our own kitchens with less fuss. So while the number of companies that have taken the plunge is limited, they tend to hit the ground running because they have either made a significant investment, or they are farmers with existing facilities, usually from wine making. Products look good, they all seem to be machine labelled, they are properly blended to give good consistency and with an appealing range of flavours. Maybe the dedication towards creating a desirable flavour appeal has rolled over from the wine industry too.

Chilli cook-off

Chilli cook-off

Chilli companies have attended food markets in Slovenia for years, but I gather that this was the first dedicated chilli festival and it went down really well. It was held at a slightly off-the-wall sports bar/cafe called Lepa Zoga. This was exactly the right kind of place for it; informal, good beer, a great reputation locally for gourmet burgers and hotdogs, and used to organising sports and music events. The venue incorporates the courtyard of something that reminded me of an American style balconied motel, which I think was some kind of barracks at some time or another.

Lepa Zoga cili fest

Lepa Zoga cili fest

Lepa Zoga loved it, and so did the 500 or so visitors. Unusually things kicked off early, at 9am, with stalls and a chilli cook-off which was judged around midday. This was great as it meant there was not as much competition for peoples time and it attracted not only the real chilli lovers, but lots of casual interest too. It should have finished at noon, but everyone was happy to carry n till about 4pm, and I’m sure there were a few who stayed into the evening.

Another unusual thing was that they didn’t have a chilli eating competition, I’m not a fan of them, although I don’t tire of watching the antics. Without one, this festival took on a more relaxed atmosphere; no anticipation of any macho show of strength, and no peak in expectation either. So often at a chilli festival the eating contest is the highlight, and after that everyone trips off home much like an English pub abruptly shutting its doors at 11pm, where this one casually continued on to reach a natural conclusion, as is traditional in Ljubljana cafes.

There was also a competition for the best sauce, which was won by CiliPipp, the most established grower and sauce maker, seed supplier etc. They have been going for 7 years, and for a while enjoyed all the TV and radio publicity that goes along with being a pioneer, until the competition came along; Tomaz Pipp’s story sounded very familiar to me. Gorki Chili is another established company, and I also met a few others selling chilli chocolate cakes, bread, and most interestingly a really successful and active cooperative group cili.si that not only make sauces but pool their surplus fresh ones to sell for charity.

Cili.si at Lepa Zoga cili fest

Cili.si at Lepa Zoga cili fest

Ljubljana itself is a bit of a secret destination, recent pedestrianisation of the centre now shows the city at its best, and it is quite stunning.

Ljubljana

Ljubljana

It is only 2 hours and a few quid away from Luton or Stanstead with cheap airlines, and what you get is Venice without the horrible pigeons and the 8 euro coffee. There is no hassle from street vendors and you don’t have to go to the back streets to eat where the locals do, they eat by the river with lovely views of the castle and all the beautiful bridges and buildings because nobody, and no restaurant will rip you off in Ljubljana. Outside of the city is a mecca for mountain walking, climbing, cycling or just enjoying the great outdoors. This is one of those countries where you can ski in the morning and nip down to the beach for a sunbathe in the afternoon. It won’t stay secret for long so get in quick, in fact there is another chilli festival this weekend.

#chillibrani

Chillibrani Chilli Festival – Brno, Czech Republic

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I thought it might be interesting to tell people about a recent visit I made to the Czech Republic and to their ‘Chillibrani’ Chilli Festival (Chillibrani means ‘chilli harvest’). I was invited by my publisher there as my Growing Chillies book has recently been translated into Czech, and we went along to the festival to have a look, deliver a talk and sign some books. If ever you find yourself in that part of the world, or fancy an easy and interesting weekend away this is well worth considering.

Jak Pestovat Chilli Booth

Jak Pestovat Chilli Booth

For those that have visited chillifestivals in the UK, nothing at Chillibrani will come as much of a surprise, but it is still a very worthwhile and rewarding festival. Many of the same traditions are seen there, lots of sauce makers offering tastings, various growing companies offering seeds, growing equipment, some fresh chillies for sale, music, beer, food and or course a chilli eating contest.

Chillibrani, Brno 2015

Chillibrani, Brno 2015

The festival was in the city of Brno, a couple of hours south of Prague; a very pleasant, cultured and laid back place. The Czechs are a little newer to the idea of chilli festivals than us. The popularity of growing chillies hasn’t quite reached the level that we have in the UK, but they are following the same timeline in the way it is developing, just a year or two behind us. I think because of that, this and one or two other chilli festivals (this one is in its second year) are enjoying patronage from all the various chilli businesses in Czech, as well as lots of visitors, while in the UK festivals have become so frequent that they are often somewhat under-attended with an incomplete set of exhibitors, and with some festivals looking a little empty because of it or not surviving at all. Not so in Czech, this festival had 4000 visitors, around 50 exhibitors, two stages, lots of interesting talks and demos along with a huge and vociferously supported chilli eating contest. The visitors were a real mix of people, not just hardened chilli heads, but also a lot of people who saw it as a good way of spending an afternoon in the sunshine eating and drinking.

Apart from chillies, there was plenty of good food, Indian, Czech, excellent burgers, cooked meats and plenty of beer. The beer there, needless to say, is fantastic; a few different brewery outlets offered a range of pilsner, lager, weissbier, and a couple of ales and stouts. All of these for sale for less than £1 for a half litre (don’t all rush at once, Brits have a reputation to shed in Czech Republic as far as anti-social beer drinking goes!).

The main difference I observed was in the chilli eating contest. There is a fundamental difference here which I think the Czech people need to learn, or maybe not, as it was quite entertaining. In the UK, and I think the USA too, the rules pretty much forbid the eating or drinking of anything other than the chillies put in front of you so that if you reach for yogurt/bread/water/beer or whatever, you are disqualified. In Czech, the competitors are given an equal amount of bread each, and I think 3 bottles of water. They can use this as they please until they run out, and only if they reach for yogurt are they disqualified. This makes for a very protracted event, with most of the competitors still completely happy up to round 6 or 8, which is well into the hotter habs and the super hot ones. With a lot of ceremony, winding up of the audience, interviews with competitors etc. between each round this shenanigans carried on for two hours and still there were a handful left of the 50 that started, all awaiting round 11, the 6.5 mil SHU extract sauce. At two hours I think competitors faces and digestive tracts were so numb that nothing could sort the men from the boys, or even the young girl, that remained in the line-up. So there was a round 12 and 13, each with increasing amounts of extract sauce, 30ml, 45ml, and each spoon with some roughly chopped Carolina Reaper or similar thrown in to give them something to chew on. At two hours and 10 minutes I think it was more about competitive bladder control than chilli eating and a few dropped out. Finally what separated the two remaining competitors was that one ran out of bread and water so with nothing to cleanse his palate he was off, leaving last year’s runner up the victor.

If you fancy a trip to Brno, it has a lovely city center with trams, cobbled streets, lovely architecture and a friendly selection of cafes and bars. If you go there don’t miss ‘the bones’ an ossuary under the main drag which holds the bones of 50,000 bodies exhumed from graves in the middle ages to save space in what was a walled city and stowed away in crypts, only to be sealed, lost, then rediscovered about 20 years ago.

Brno Czech Republic

Brno, Czech Republic

The chilli festival has a website http://www.chillibrani.cz/ This year (2015) it took place on Saturday 5th September and I think next year will be around that time too.