Well-preserved, hardbound, brown cover, 544 pages.
Cookbook "The Good Cook", author Minka Vasičeva, publishing house L. Schwentner, Ljubljana 1903.
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Salty
Well-preserved, hardbound, brown cover, 544 pages.
Cookbook "The Good Cook", author Minka Vasičeva, publishing house L. Schwentner, Ljubljana 1903.
The Old Cookbook and Memories of Posόlanka
My roots stretch into the countryside, to a small place near Ljutomer. Yet life often carries us elsewhere, and the objects we grew up with either vanish or lose their value. We frequently throw them away, sell, or give them away. But there are exceptions—like books. Tossing them into the trash would fill me with overwhelming guilt. One book, in particular, is precious to me, titled The Good Cook. It was compiled by Minka Vasičeva and published by L. Schwentner in Ljubljana in 1903. When I look at it, I always think of a special savory pastry from my childhood called posόlanka, as well as posόlenka, ocvirkovka and postržjάča.
I remember my grandmother, who owned this book, and my mother, as they prepared posόlanke together. They would spread dollops of homemade pork crackling spread (zaseka) on rolled-out leavened dough. Then, they would place several round pastries into the preheated bread oven. Soon, an enticing aroma filled the kitchen, and finally, the moment arrived when my grandmother would cut into the still-warm pastry. Only when it touched our taste buds did the divine salty flavor unfold, overwhelming the eater with the desire for more. Those crispy, golden-baked pastries, smelling of cracklings, were the best I’d ever tasted! Even the postržjače, made from leftover rye bread dough and similarly topped with cracklings, were just as delightful.
Salt pans we ate while doing common tasks, which today are already forgotten and almost unimaginable for young people. These customs included tasks such as combing or plucking chicken and duck feathers, shelling beans, rubbing walnuts, combing and spinning sheep's wool, and making bouquet from rye straw for covering roofs. Usually, these jobs were done in the winter months, when mainly women - local women, neighbors and acquaintances - gathered in the warm farmhouse. They brought with them feathers, walnuts, sheep's wool and other things for working together.
At that time, everything was grown at home, so there was always homemade food on the table. Hardworking women were most often served with salt shaker. Zazaka was quite salty, because without it it would not have lasted a whole year tünki (wooden vats), where pork meat was also pickled. Because of posolanke they soon felt thirsty. They drank cider made from old varieties of apples, or homemade red wine from Brajda, most often from Jurka or Quinton. In some places, they also offered lily of the valley, which today is considered a deceptive wine variety, as it quickly "drives" a person crazy. As cheeks warmed, tongues loosened and the latest village gossip was exchanged. Soon joy, laughter and loud singing filled the house. Even we, still children at the time, were allowed to stay up and rejoice. The work often dragged on late into the night before the women, red-cheeked and laden with sacks and baskets, headed home on snow-covered tarps.
Even today posolanke they are not forgotten. Although calorie-conscious people prefer to avoid them, others absolutely love them – especially as a side dish to stews and beer. A book The Good Cook is my connection to childhood. When I hold it in my hands, the smell of memories takes me back to my grandmother's kitchen and brings back sweet memories of people who were close to my heart.
Tastes appear in color systems as bipolar concepts, divided into opposites such as bitter-sweet, sour-salty and umami-kokumi. We associate sweet taste with the color orange, cyan blue with salty taste, green with sour, and magenta red with bitter. Shades of green are usually associated with growth, while yellow, orange and bright red indicate activity. On the other hand, dark red, magenta and purple symbolize slowing down, while passivity is expressed by various shades of blue.
dr. hc Vojko Pogačar, academic painter
First, we chose musical instruments that illustrate different tastes: for the "salty" guitar (Astrid Kukovič), for the "bitter" piano (Sašo Vollmaier), for the "sour" harmonica (Dominik Cvitanič), for the "hot" violin (Andreja Klinc) and for the "sweet" flute (Asja Grauf).
Melodies were created spontaneously. The improvisations of the "bitter" melodies were low and legato, the "salty" were determined and articulate, the "sour" were high and dissonant, and the "sweet" were unison, slow and soft.
Asja Grauf, professor of flute
I experience salty as a mixture of all tastes. It awakens a pleasant, relaxed, unusual feeling in me. I associate this taste with long, emphasized and controlled body movements. Bitter is a taste that awakens confusion in me, because with each bite my body decides whether to approve of this taste or not. I associate with it fluid movement with various emphasized and accelerated movements. I can enjoy sweet for several hours a day. My body relaxes when I enjoy sweets for a long time, which cause a pleasant feeling of joy. I associate with sweet slow and easy movements. Sour usually ends quickly. Each bite causes a short shock in my body, and then disappears completely. I associate with sour taste abrupt, fast and uncontrolled movements. Hot is a taste that usually lasts a very long time. It awakens an unpleasant feeling in me that is hard to shake. These are long, strong movements and individual shorter, more intense ones that show evasion and discomfort.
Pina Batič, dancer
An important task of modern museums is to connect the past with the present, to introduce innovative approaches for the education of new generations and to contribute to cultural and social development.
Read the personal stories of the individuals who contributed their items to the Museum of Taste.
At the same time, we invite you to join this project yourself and participate with your contributions.