Traditional Slovenian Breakfast

The nation-wide campaign goes 13 years back when the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association launched a project to encourage schools to serve local honey for breakfast. Over the years, the "honey breakfast" project has evolved into Slovenian Food Day promoting locally produced food and the benefits of eating breakfast.

Slovenians know that healthy, locally-produced food is important for living a long and healthy life. A prominent example of recent efforts in this direction is the Traditional Slovenian Breakfast campaign.

For a while now, parents no longer need to look at their child's menu on the third Friday of November – like every year, kindergartens and schools will be serving a traditional Slovenian breakfast. Teachers generally use this day to teach children about the work of farmers and beekeepers and about the importance of eating healthy, adapting their presentation to the children's age.

The initiative was introduced in 2011. The breakfast consisted of bread, butter, honey, milk and an apple. Today, the project has expanded to include all kindergartens and schools, a number of companies and other participants.

In its first edition, food-processing and agricultural companies and cooperatives, two faculties, a school centre, the Agricultural Institute, farmers and beekeeping associations joined the project by donating food. The food was delivered by the donors themselves or, when this was not possible, by the retailer participating in the project that saw to the distribution.

The Traditional Slovenian Breakfast project was initiated by the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association. The latter was also behind the charity and education campaign "Honey of Slovenian Beekeepers for Breakfast in Slovenian Kindergartens for a Day" that received a very positive response in both kindergartens and schools.

The campaign was aimed mainly at educating and raising awareness among children about the importance of bees and bee products.

The purpose of the project is to educate, inform and raise awareness among preschool and school children and, to some extent, the wider public, on the importance of breakfast in our eating habits, on the importance and advantages of locally produced Slovenian food, on the importance of agriculture and beekeeping for production, the environment and economic activity, on the proper management of waste generated in everyday life, and on the efficient use of packaging. It is also essential to teach young people about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, including the importance of exercise and sports.