"Tradition is our mission"
Tatjana and Mitja Butul's farm lodge reinvents agricultural treasures of Mediterranean Slovenia through the integration of permaculture, academia, craftsmanship and a sensory pedagogy that reruralizes gastronomy
In their mediterranean, biodiverse farm, home to fig trees, ancient vineyards, olive groves and edible gardens, the Butuls use natural wine, mountain cheese, fig jellies and homegrown olive oil to compose a rural experience that fuses innovation with tradition. Mitja, Tatjana and their son Crt season their four hectares located in Koper with herbs from their orchard, tomato varieties adapted to the mild Istrian sun, mountain honey and dozens of stories like those kept by Tatjana's father, the 90-year-old Renato, who recalls old customs of this "terroir" in Slovenian and Italian while tasting a crna smokva (black fig). These stories are now revived thanks to an initiative that has reruralized the gastronomy of the Istria region.
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Koper is located in Istria, across the Adriatic Sea. This Mediterranean landscape shows fig trees, olive trees and grapevines. The Butul family keeps the rich biodiversity of this side of Slovenia through their culinary innovation.
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Figs and olive oil are important ingredients of the local diet, which also includes marinated anchovies, whole wheat bread, natural wine and prosciutto. Tatjana and Mitja expose this tradition through artisanal work based on seasonality.
The land and the cuisine coexist stimulated by the edible landscaping and ingredients with history, whether from a salad of fresh figs, spices and tomatoes from the garden or a balanced arrangement of marinated sardines with polenta and pomegranate rings -a tasty and nourishing simplicity. The house is a learning center for the visitor, where the culinary pedagogy is based on rurality itself: the gastronomy of the Butuls is developed on fertile soil, surrounded by the mystique of ancient vines and fig trees that combine finesse with hardiness. Their strong food convictions (healthy gastronomy, permaculture, rediscovery of undervalued ingredients), their devotion to the countryside and their high skills as cookers make them one of the most honest proposals for gastronomic tourism in Slovenia.
Linking aromas and continents
Honesty, conviction and biodiversity. These three components mark the harmony of the host farm, where inputs come from identifiable origins, where the commercial relationship transcends the transactional and is based rather on mutual trust. Although they consider organic certification guidelines, they do not apply for them because their production philosophy is based on the constitution of trust networks with producers -such as the cheese makers of the Julian Alps, who use spices from the garden-, journalists, gastronomes and platforms such as Slow Food, whose values -good, clean and fair- form a conceptual basis in accordance with the needs of small producers in the region. Guests who visit them to participate in their agro-culinary workshops, taste their delicacies of balanced simplicity and explore Mediterranean Slovenia, come knowing that an experience born in the rural environment and not curated by "culinary experts" awaits them.
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1. Mitja Butul carries two mountain cheeses, which were made by artisans from the Julian Alps using spices cultivated by him and Tatjana. 2. Renato, Tatjanas father, remembers old culinary habits fron Istria. 3. Primoz Pipan, Geographer from Lubjana University, has developed different research projects with the Butuls based on “actor’s cooperation, local anchoring and innovation creating culinary tourism experiences.”
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Tatjana Butul and the Malvasija. “Wy try to use what the nature gives us. People ask us if we serve a menu, and no, we don’t, because our work depends on seasonality”.
Tatjana and Mitja are flavor explorers. Their work has reached the Terra Madre in Torino (the international Slow Food fair), the Cheese meeting in Bra (Italy), orange wine festivals all over Slovenia and the Berlin food scene. In addition to their refuge in Koper, the Butuls maintain close ties with Sri Lanka, where they own a farm which allows them to link the Mediterranean with Ayurveda. Travel as a form of learning is then embodied in the naturalistic inventions of this family whose renown has made the farm an obligatory place of learning for the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo. This academic cooperation also takes place in their own country, as demonstrated by the close collaboration with Dr. Primoz Pipan of the Anton Melik Geographical Institute of Lubjana (Slovenian capital), thanks to which two essays were published on clean, healthy and historical food to reposition the Mediterranean rurality thanks to mutual aid, "local anchoring" and a gastronomic and agricultural tourism that respects the cultural landscape.
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1. Malvasija, queen of white wine. 2. Refosk, king of red wine. The natural wine is one of the highlights from the Butul family.
The fig tree, a symbol of intercultural crossing, has majestic representatives in this small Slovenian redoubt. Fleshy and dark varieties such as crna smokva turn into jellies or vinegars that accompany dishes where tomatoes and spices from the orchard along with mountain cheese are the main protagonists. In summer they can even present figov hlebcek, an energetic, anti-anemic and historical version of Mediterranean fig bread, whose components are dried figs paste and grape syrup. The spirit from ancient Mediterranean food traditions can be seen in this simple and powerful preparation of dried figs. This kind of recipes are clearly visible in Zdrava sredozemska hrana ("A Healthy Mediterranean Diet"), a book that Tatjana published in 2007 as a tribute to the rural memory of Istria.
The figs of the Butuls are integrated into the exhibition of a complete food system condensed on four hectares. Visitors, eager to learn about the origin of their food and observe the conditions under which it is produced, find in this communion between culinary expertise and agroecology an example of an edible landscape, cultivated with temperance and passion.
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1. Crna Smokva (dark fig). 2 Different fig varieties from Istria. 3. Crna Smokva ready to be harvested. Besides marmalade and jams, the Butuls prepare also fig vinegar.
Bibliography. The Role of Actors Cooperation, Local Anchoring and Innovation in Creating Culinary Tourism Experiences in the Rural Slovenian Mediterranean. P. Kumer, P. Pipan, M. Smid Hribar, N. RaspotnikViskovic.
Farm stay Domačija Butul
Manzan 10d, 6000 Koper, Slovenia.
Contact: info@butul.net, +386 41 718 219.