"Chef's Table is an American documentary series produced by Netflix. Each episode focuses on a different world-renowned chef," stands in the description of the series warmly welcomed especially by the American public. One of the six "world renown" chefs of the new season is also our Ana Roš from Hiša Franko.
It is a new step in the career of the 43-year old Roš, who is slowly but persistently stepping onto the world stage. For the first time her name was mentioned among the most illustrious names in 2012, when she participated, as the only female chef, at the Cook it Raw project alongside Rene Redzepi (Noma), Iñaki Aizpitarte (le Chateuabriand), Magnus Nilsson (Faviken), Albert Adria (Tickets) and some other holders of Michelin stars from all parts of the world.
Several more similar projects followed – last year Mauro Colagreco (Mirazur, 2*, 11th on the World 50 Best list) cooked one evening in Hiša Franko during the famous chef swap, while Roš travelled to Chile, to Borago restaurant. This January the polyglot from Kobarid who exchanged a career in diplomacy for culinary diplomacy was the only female chef among the 30 chefs gathered in Alta Badia at the occasion of "ethical chefs day" (Care's). Roš says she has no realistic possibilities to make it to the San Pellegrino's 50 Best list – although once a chef from Slovenia made it to the list (Janez Bratovž placed 89 in 2010).
From May 27 she will appear in the Netflix original series in the company of such famous names as Grant Achatz (Alinea) and Alex Atala (Dom). Roš considers her climbing towards the world top in recent years as a rather slow, and spontaneous process.
"Step by step – not as if I won the Oscar overnight, so I it is not a big shock. Perhaps in the beginning, when I got the first invitation to Cook it Raw – a person gets very excited, but then you start accepting it once you get to know what is hiding behind that curtain. Now everything is much more spontaneous and it doesn't change us, doesn't change our view of what we do. People around us accept it very well, it is not as if we had made it overnight," she explains. Hiša Franko was found and chosen by Netflix, and then Roš was informed last July that they would like to come shooting already in September. "It was a large team, some 15 people, and it was rather difficult to find lodging for them on such a short notice. We booked rooms for them in different parts of Kobarid, and I think they were quite satisfied with how they spent that fortnight," Roš explained. And what did the Americans find most fascinating about Ana Roš and Hiša Franko? "They find it interesting that it is a rather unique story, with hardly any similarities to other stories. They were also fascinated with the fact that the Posočje region remained wild, unspoiled, and that it is inhabited by very interesting people and offers interesting food and ingredients which are practically lost in many other places due to globalisation and development in general. They find interesting also my initial ignorance – I started cooking from zero and then developed my own lines which different a lot from the others. They found that fact most convincing – and of course the fact that in the end the food was really good, and it often makes such an impression on people that they keep writing how interesting it was."
Roš is a singular phenomenon among world chefs. She began cooking rather late, without any formal culinary education (she studied diplomacy in Italy, AN.).
Kaja Sajovic; translated by G. K.
