Sun and Rain that shape Ana Roš – and shape our lives

It was the worst time to release a book for fine dining restaurant. There were no more fine dining, no more restaurants open, Hiša Franko closed their door just a few days after it reopened and started serving their brand new Spring menu. Menu now gone to waste, with all the hard work and ideas behind it.

Hiša Franko with its entire team of young chefs and front of house staff from all corners of the world went into self-isolation, watching dumbfoundedly the border with Italy, where some of their best customers have been coming from, now getting barricaded with heavy concrete slabs. For the people of Soča Valley where borders moved and changed so much throughout history it was another painful reminder of the turbulent past now creeping up back to life.

More than anything else, historically, this is the area of borders. In the past 500 years, there were ten...