Provided by Wikipedia Ana RošStojan (born 1972) is a chef from Slovenia. A self-taught cook, she helms Hiša Franko restaurant in Kobarid, Slovenia and other projects. She is considered one of the world's most prominent chefs.
Born to distinctly ambitious parents, she trained in contemporary dance (Cunningham technique), and alpine skiing as a child, earning a place in the Yugoslavian youth national team, but later decided she didn't want to pursue a career as a professional skier. After attending linguistic high school, she studied diplomacy at the University of Trieste, facoltà di Gorizia. After graduating, she met her former partner Valter Kramar, with whom they share two adult children. Valter's parents owned Hiša Franko, an already established home-style restaurant in the Slovenian far west. With them retiring, she gave up her career as a diplomat to take over the family restaurant (against her parents wishes). After a few years of working in the front of house team, in 2002, as a completely self-taught chef, she took over the kitchen of the restaurant we now know as Hiša Franko.
Her beginnings in the kitchen were non-stop studying, learning, and experimenting. She developed her own unique style that does not fit into any culinary school. Ana tends to say her cooking is a patchwork of her wild character, the expression of the land, and the season.
Her wildness and uniqueness quickly brought the attention of foodies in the wider region and food journalists.
She first appeared on the international stage in 2007 in Toulouse in southern France, at the conference Les rencontres internationales de la gastronomie, which was dedicated to the future stars of the world of gastronomy. In 2010, she was featured in the Italian culinary magazine Identità Golose, and in 2012 she was discovered by French-Italian food journalist Andrea Petrini who brought her centre stage among the World's best chefs.
She was the first woman ever to attend the environmental event Cook it raw, which was later on transformed to Gelinaz.
In 2014, Ana was a guest chef in Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria, In 2016, she was featured in the second season of the Netflix documentary ''Chef's Table'', and in early 2017, she was named the world's best female chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants academy.
In 2020, Michelin guide finally landed in Slovenia and Ana was immediately awarded 2 stars and a green star for sustainability.
In 2020, she also published her book Sun and rain, released by Phaidon USA. The book received a lot of attention, the Times named it book of the week, and the Wall Street Journal one of the most beautiful objects of the year.
Throughout her career, she was dedicated to what we call today a micro-local approach. All ingredients without compromises are sourced in a local environment, and in season, which makes Hiša Franko an important economic and social partner for the local environment.
Case study of Harvard University on Resilience of Ana Roš and Hiša Franko in times of Covid-19; Dilemma for Students whether to engage in the project with the chain of Grocery stores is soon to be released.
In 2023, Ana and her restaurant Hiša Franko were finally awarded 3 stars and a green star for sustainability by Michelin guide.