You don't need to invent hot water: Well done to Požeško - Slavonia County on its strategic development

Can sweet potato be combined with kulen and acacia honey, which wine goes well with carp chips, what to choose with noodles with poppy seeds...

Chef Branko Ognjenović and chefs from Požeško-Slavonska County gave answers to these questions yesterday at the Mövenpick Hotel Zagreb, as part of the promotion of Požeško-Slavonska County as a gastronomic destination. 

Namely, six chefs from Požeško - Slavonia county with the famous chef Branko Ognjenović prepared autochthonous dishes in Zagreb that now have a new, modern touch, and the famous sommelier Darko Lugarić made sure of the perfect match.

Old dishes interpreted through modern cuisine

There was everything - from spicy kulen, crackling, pork fat, chicken liver and mushroom pâté, risotto with pumpkin cream, mushrooms and black pig bacon, perch fillet in wine batter, veal perkelt with cloves, roast from Slavonian black pig and a cloth with greens to baked apples in cinnamon and vanilla, plum dumplings, tachkrla... old dishes interpreted through modern cuisine with everything combined with selected wines from three vineyards of Golden Slavonia: Kutjeva, Požega-Pleternica and Pakraca.

"The wealth of local foods of exceptional quality and top wines are a great potential that, in combination with education, knowledge, effort, work, but also good promotion, generates excellent tourist results and attracts modern visitors to the destination in search of an authentic and original eno-gastro experience, to mutual satisfaction. host and guest", chef Ognjenović concluded. 

Darko Lugarić shares his opinion with him, emphasizing the wide range of wines from Golden Slavonia, especially the most widespread variety of Graševina, which in this part of Croatia produces exceptional results from sparkling wines to predicates, so the sommelier chose more than 15 labels for the Zagreb gathering.  

A famous wine destination from now on and a gourmet oasis

As part of the Zlatna Slavonija Eno & Gastro project, we are working on developing the destination's eno-gastro offer based on local ingredients and raising the quality of catering services, with the possibility of implementing fine dining, she said. Maja Jakobović, director of TZ Požega-Slavonia County.

"With this goal in mind, since the beginning of the year, in cooperation with chef Branko Ognjenović and sommelier Darko Lugarić, we have organized workshops and educations that, by applying what we have learned, make a difference that is ultimately felt by the guest. More than 80 chefs, waiters, sommeliers and baristas, restaurant owners and wineries from the entire county participated in the training. The result is new, attractive menus with top-quality autochthonous local products, along with an attractive selection of impressive wines for which our destination is widely known." added Jakobović.

With a modern way of presenting traditional dishes, world-class award-winning wines and food from small, local producers, the experience of the destination becomes complete, and integrated quality management is a prerequisite for progress and tourist growth.

"TZ of Požega-Slavonska County this year realized the praiseworthy independent project Zlatna Slavonija Eno & Gastro, raising the quality, innovating the offer and in terms of eno-gastronomy, elevating the entire destination. And that's why this step forward is extremely important for our area, because in addition to nurturing the originality, it preserves all the good that was created in this beautiful Slavonia of ours", pointed out Antonija Jozić, prefect of the Požega-Slavonia County.

An excellent example of how to strategically develop a destination and directly raise the quality and performance of the destination. What I already wrote about before: Find out how the quality of the destination is directly raised. An example that other tourist boards should follow

You don't need to invent hot water, that's how a destination is strategically developed. This is the main role of the tourist board, to connect, educate, strategically develop, brand and promote the destination. 

It is important to emphasize that this is not a one-time education or a destination, but a comprehensive education of stakeholders in the destination in order to directly raise the performance of the entire destination. And after the education, the just-mentioned event in Zagreb followed as an element of positioning and additional promotion. 

The example from the Požega - Slavonia County is so simple, logical, natural and, most importantly, concrete. An example that all other tourist boards should follow. 

Photo: Borna Subota, EXE production