Ana Roš Stojan (born 1972) is a

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

from

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. A self-taught cook, she helms the kitchen of Hiša Franko restaurant in

Kobarid Kobarid (; it, Caporetto, fur, Cjaurêt, german: Karfreit) is a settlement in Slovenia, the administrative centre of the Municipality of Kobarid. Kobarid is known for the 1917 Battle of Caporetto, where the Italian retreat was documented by Erne ...

, Slovenia. Born to distinctly ambitious parents, she trained

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as a child, earning a place in the Yugoslavian youth national team, but later decided she didn't want a professional career. After that, she studied

diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gorit ...

, when she met her ex-partner Valter Kramar. Kramar's parents owned Hiša Franko, an already established restaurant. Incidentally, they decided to retire just as she completed her study, so she and Kramar decided to stay and take over the family restaurant (against the wish of her parents). At first, she worked as a waitress (Kramar became a sommelier) and tried convincing the then chef to try experimenting with traditional recipes, to no avail. After he left, she took over the kitchen. With the help of her mother-in-law and a family friend, she shortly learned cooking well enough to attract attention in the wider region with her culinary creations. In 2010, she was featured in the Italian culinary magazine ''Identità Golose'', which brought her even more attention. She began receiving invitations to top-notch culinary events, such as being a guest chef of the Ikarus restaurant in Hangar-7 in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, Austria, and the Gelinaz Grand Shuffle in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2016, Roš was featured in the

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documentary ''

Chef's Table ''Chef's Table'' is an American documentary series created by David Gelb' which premiered on video streaming service Netflix on April 26, 2015. The series takes viewers inside both the lives and kitchens of a variety acclaimed and successful inter ...

'' and in early 2017, she was named world's best female chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants academy. Her cooking style features innovative remaking of traditional recipes from the upper Soča valley region, prepared with local ingredients. Roš characterizes her own approach as "technical, almost scientific." She has a preference of serving raw food, especially vegetables.

Recognition

In 2016, Roš was featured in the Netflix documentary ''

.'' The following year, she was named world's best female chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants academy. In 2019,

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations, Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation) is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownershi ...

named Hiša Franko one of the world's 30 best restaurants. Hiša Franko was awarded two Michelin stars as

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...

presented its first ever rating for Slovenia in 2020. In addition, her restaurant was specially noted for sustainability. In 2023, Hiša Franko was awarded 3 stars by

and a green star for sustainability.

Personal life

Roš and Kramar have two children. Apart from her native Slovene, she speaks English, Italian, French, Croatian, Spanish fluently and some German.

References

1972 births Living people Slovenian chefs Women chefs Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants {{Chef-bio-stub