{"id":43489,"date":"2021-07-31T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-31T05:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/the-slovenia.com\/?p=43489"},"modified":"2021-04-20T10:02:10","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T08:02:10","slug":"top-slovenia-interview-jason-hartley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-slovenia.com\/en\/gastronomy\/top-slovenia-interview-jason-hartley\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Slovenia Interview: Jason Hartley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Hartley, a British chef, chief strategy officer, <\/strong>restaurateur and food campaigner. A man that wears many hats. Which role do you like the most?<\/strong><\/p>

Don\u2019t forget entrepreneur, probably the most relevant hat now. In terms of which hat fitted best. No question that of a chef. This was the hardest path I\u2019ve ever taken, I gave up everything to become a cook at 36 but I\u2019ve never felt more of a sense of contentment, that I was doing what I was meant to do, when I was cooking. It\u2019s a tough game though, physically, mentally, financially, and I started too late in life sadly.<\/p>

What brought you to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia?<\/strong><\/p>

I\u2019ve been visiting since 2003. I met my first Slovenian in 2002 when living in Amsterdam, I\u2019d never heard of the country I must confess. I then met another Slovenian friend in Paris in summer 2003 when studying photography. At that point I decided I had to visit, and I met some lovely people, fell in love with the country and it\u2019s been an on off love affair ever since.<\/p>

What are the biggest differences between Ljubljana and Amsterdam?<\/strong><\/p>

Well there\u2019s one pretty obvious one. Amsterdam, and the Netherlands, is as flat as a Dutch pancake and used to be the bottom of the sea, and Ljubljana and Slovenia has the most amazing diversity in geography and nature. In terms of rabid amounts of bureaucracy and an anti-entrepreneurial culture they are remarkably similar (I really pick the oddest locations to follow dreams). Amsterdam is a much more cosmopolitan city, it\u2019s used to being multicultural, Ljubljana is still at that start of that journey. The Amsterdam I knew at the end of the 90\u2019s and early Noughties was an absolutely wonderful place to live, it\u2019s seven years since I left and I am told by many people that pre-Covid over tourism and increasing clampdowns on the social freedoms of the city mean it\u2019s less enjoyable than it once was but I always say everyone should spend at least a year in their life in Amsterdam on a bike and if you\u2019re lucky once every decade walking on frozen canals. Ljubljana in bloom has a much more city-village<\/em> like vibe although it\u2019s been so long now since we all got to enjoy the city in its full glory I\u2019m starting to forget.<\/p>

Can you tell us more about Cultisan? When did the project launch and what is it about?<\/strong><\/p>

So we launched across the EU from our Ljubljana base last week, but the idea has been clawing at me for over five years. When I became a chef in Amsterdam I had to work really hard to find the very best produce in The Netherlands, travelling across the country to find rare breed pork farmers, artisan cheesemakers, craft brewers in garages and the like. That journey showed me hard hard these people work, how they dedicated their lives to their passion. I did some digging into the global farming landscape \u2013 the strategist in me. Did you know there are over 570 million farms in the world. 90% are family or individually run. They farm 80% of the worlds farmland and feed 70% of the planet every day. The notion that we are dependent on processed food, factory farming and the like is a paid for myth. It\u2019s lie cultivated for corporate profit. Traditional farming is the enemy of corporate boardrooms, it\u2019s inefficient, unpredictable, uncopyrightable \u2013 and it produces the most wonderful food and drink you will ever experience. Cultisan was created to connect the worlds digital consumers to the worlds finest farmers and makers in a way that is fair and convenient.  <\/p>

How does Cultisan work?<\/strong><\/p>

We\u2019re on a quest to unearth the world\u2019s best farmers and makers, one region at a time, and we want you to taste, indulge and explore with us every step of the way.<\/p>

Firstly, we create content, for our in-app Cultisan TV, to bring you closer to the producers and the chefs we meet.<\/p>

We then offer you the chance to subscribe to our monthly Adventurer\u2019s Packs and taste along with us. These are a tasting selection of the definitive flavours of each region, curated with the best local chefs. We also offer you the chance to indulge your favourite products in our every growing in-app farmers market.<\/p>

We also offer food travel, obviously not right at this moment but from Autumn. You can come and join our quest with us and book a food adventure to meet, eat with and learn from the best farmers and the chefs who love them. This is so important, it\u2019s when you sit and talk with these people, when you understand their vocation, and you taste their product with them, you truly understand what the essence of food and wine, and the connection to nature and our ecosystem, really means.<\/p>

Finally, if you\u2019re someone who prefers solo travelling we also share a directory of the best producers we find along the way so next time you are in a region we\u2019ve visited you can hunt out your favourites for yourself, and we offer the chance for producers and chefs to message each other and form new supply chain relationships.<\/p>