Chef of the Future Luka Košir: “You just can’t stop at any moment”

“This award means a lot to me,” he says. “As the ambassador and chef of the future, I encourage trends, development, cooperation with local producers, self-supply and sustainability. These modern procedures are already used in the culinary world, but the development of the gastronomy scene should definitely strive towards sustainability.” This is not a novelty for Luka, because he has been working according to these principles ever since the beginning. “I’ve chosen the more difficult path,” he smiles. “You have to put a lot of effort and work into this - you cannot succeed by taking the easy way. The more you restrict yourself, the more creative you can get. People look for local identities and it is very important for me to work with local producers: we have our own farm which provides most fruits and vegetables and an eco farm with goats. At my sister’s farm, I would like to breed Krškopolje pigs and sheep, all as an example of good ecological breeding. For now, all of this is just meant for the restaurant - I don’t want to make a huge project out of it. If we become successful, however, we can also start working with other restaurants.”

Luka stares boldly into the future, which is also seen in his passion towards transparent cooking. “I want every guest in my restaurant to feel where he is,” he says. “We are a restaurant with the privilege of having our own gardens. We are working and developing in the way that each guest can have a look at our gardens, see the way we prepare food and get to know how we survive the whole year with one ingredient - if there is too much of something during the season, we preserve it and make it possible to serve it off-season, showing clearly where it came from. Our agers and storages will be presentable and one day, I wish to have an open kitchen: not a show kitchen, but a real view of preparing dishes where guests will be able to cooperate, too. I think it is truly important for every person to see our process from beginning to end - this is the transparency, which is a big part of the future. By offering complete transparency, you also build trust.”

He believes that the culinary future of Slovenia is bright and stays optimistic. The biggest drawback that Luka notices is a lack of identity: “Slovenians should be prouder of where we live and who we are. We should not compare ourselves too much with our neighbours and stop searching for exotic things because they don’t exist. Each place is in itself exotic and this is something that should become clear to everyone. I have cleared all of this in my head quite early, because I know exactly what I want to serve to my guests, but there is always room for improvement. You just can’t stop at any moment,” chef of the future sums up his thoughts.