🇸🇮 The cattle breeds of Slovenia

Cattle stand a step behind pork in Slovenian kitchens, yet beef soup with noodles anchors the Sunday lunch and feast-day tables. Cows' milk goes into protected cheeses such as Nanos, Tolminc and Mohant, while the boškarin, an Istrian cattle breed shared with Croatia, carries protected meat.

• Beef soup with noodles is the usual Sunday soup, served with fried potatoes and steak.
• Boškarin, the Istrian cattle, has protected meat, a listing shared with Croatia.
• Nanos cheese is a hard cow cheese with holes the size of peas.
• Tolminc is made from raw cows' milk in the Tolmin area.
• Mohant is a soft cows'-milk cheese with a strong smell, piquant and sometimes bitter.

Cattle in Slovenia

Cattle keep a modest place in Slovenian food culture, where pork is popular everywhere and poultry is common too. Beef appears chiefly in the pot: beef soup with noodles leads the meat soups and is a fixture of Sunday lunch, while feast-day tables may offer beef noodle soup or a creamy mushroom soup instead. Cows' milk matters more on the cheese board, in cheeses tied to named places. The cuisine names one breed outright: the boškarin, or Istrian cattle, whose meat is protected jointly with Croatia. A noted cheese from Bovec comes from sheep instead, and ethnologists split the country into 24 gastronomic regions shaped by neighbours all around.

The breeds

Only one breed is named: the boškarin, the Istrian cattle whose meat is listed among Slovenia's protected foods and entered jointly with Croatia. The cheese board does the rest of the dairy work: hard Nanos, dotted with holes the size of peas; Tolminc, made from raw milk; and Mohant, a soft cheese with a strong smell and a piquant, sometimes bitter, bite.

Regions and communities

Slovenia's food map runs to 24 gastronomic regions, and its cow cheeses carry place names: Nanos takes its name from Nanos, and Tolminc from the Tolmin area. The protected boškarin meat belongs to Istria, a listing Slovenia shares with Croatia across the border. A well-known cheese from Bovec, near the Soča river, comes from sheep rather than cows, a reminder that cattle share these hills with other stock.

Milk, butter and beef

Beef reaches the table mostly as soup. Beef soup with noodles is the standard Sunday first course, and the Sunday meal pairs it with fried potatoes, fried steak and lettuce. Milk is turned into cheese: Nanos is hard, with holes the size of peas, mildly sweet with a spicy note; Tolminc, from raw milk around Tolmin, tastes sweet and spicy too; Mohant is soft, strong-smelling, piquant and at times bitter. The meat of the boškarin, Istrian cattle, is protected in its own right.

Today

As of January 2023, 24 Slovenian foods and products hold protection at European level, and cattle sit among them: the meat of the boškarin, Istrian cattle shared with Croatia, and three cows'-milk cheeses, Nanos, Tolminc and Mohant. Beef soup keeps its hold on the Sunday table, while pork stays the meat eaten everywhere.