Food and drink habits have undergone swift
changes in Maribor; partly because of both social changes
and the changing views on nutrition. Immigrants brought
with them characteristic dishes of their native cusine.
Influences are numerous. The basic cuisine in Maribor is
Central European or Viennese. However, there has been a
noticeable influence in Maribor of eastern cuisine, as
well as Dalmatian, Italian, and Hungarian. In spite of
these manifold influences, the local cuisine of Maribor
and, above all, the native dishes from the Slovenske
Gorice vineyard hills and the Prlekija region, manage to
assert themselves.
It should be noted at the outset that the
local culinary style is to enhance its dishes with cream.
For example, cream is used in Styrian cream soup, in pork
sour soup, and in mushroom soup. Another local speciality
is horseradish with cream, an excellent accompaniment to
beef dishes.
Among the meat
dishes, stews, chicken, and veal excel. A real delicacy
is meat and sausages from the tunka: fried pieces
of lean pork and boiled sausages are immersed in minced
bacon (zaseka) and preserved in wooden barrels.
In Maribor, and
elsewhere in northeastern Slovenia, salads are mixed with
thick greenish pumpkin oil, a most nutritious addition to
salads.
Deserts are
reknowed too: along with doughnuts, walnut cake, and
poppy seed cake (potica - click here for the recipe).
The rye and corn breads are highly regarded for their
excellent taste and natural ingredients.
Visitors to
Maribor should definitely try the local wines. Such excellent
wines as yellow muscatel, Rhenan riesling, and a
Laski riesling are
available from Kalvarija (Calvary
Hill) within the City borders. Other fine wines are from
nearby Pekrska
gorca (Pekre Hill) as well as
from Svecina.
In Maribor you can see The Oldest Vine
In Europe (more than 400 years
old) and there is the fantastic scenery in the wine-cellar
in the center of City with some 15 km of tunels.
In autumn one can
enjoy sweet grape juice before it ferments, or most
- the grape juice with a bite that is devoping - a wine
that has not yet been processed. Roasted chestnuts make a
perfect accompaniment for any of these wines. On St.
Martin's Day (November 11th) the occasion of the
fermentation of the wine is celebrated with a joyous
feast of roast goose, locally referred to as the St.
Martin's goose.