FAQ's

Taste With Jase has a number of unique selling points :

1. It is focussed purely on food and wine and the people and culture that surround it. I love art, and architecture and history, but that is not the focus of these experiences. This is all about being inspired, informed AND, of course indulged in food and wine.

2. I am not a normal host. I have over twenty five years at the forfront of the branding and ad industries before becoming a multi award winning chef and restaurantuer and latterly a food campaigner and tech & travel entrepreneur. You are getting a lot more than just a guide, you are getting someone passionate and knowledgable about hospitality, about the food system and regenerative farming, someone who knows how to deliver innovative unique experiences to clients and someone who loves to get people round a table and to cook for them.

3. This is not 'passive' tourism. By that I mean this is not another tour where you walk, look, photo, taste and leave. The nature of my background, and the people you will meet along the way on your adventure mean this is very much an 'active' experience. You will be engaged, educated, challenged and immersed in the topic.

4. Taste With Jase is focussed initially on Slovenia, and in particular the Western side of Slovenia centred in the wine region of Gorisška Brda. This really is one of the most beautiful undiscovered gems of Europe. We will then expand to Italy and other surrounding regions in time. Each place is somewhere I know and love.

I am myself no spring chicken, as we say in English, but my spirit is young, open minded, inquisitive, passionate and fun loving. If these are your values also then you will have a great time with me. Taste With Jase is not an experience for those who want 5 star luxury, every whim attended to or are fussy eaters. Trust me, I love being pampered as much as anyone, but my experiences are focussed on the substance. So any age is welcome but chilled, and be young in spirit.

Nature always has something to say about life in the country so people need to roll with the punches, I may have to re-order the agenda of adventures depending on weather, seasonality, producers availability etc.

Laid back, interested, social people are the ones that will get the most out of joining me.

The Taste With Jase experiences to book online are, I'm afraid, NOT kid friendly. We have limited spaces and want to foster a community and equal experience for all and it's just not possible to accommodate children. If you would like to get in touch about a private adventure then I would be happy creating an experience for all the family.

Slovenia, and Italy, have pretty specific national diets. Slovenia is very pork, beef and potato heavy. Italy, pasta and cheese. Both countries have a love of cured meats. Of course there is an abundance of great fruit and vegetables too but on the whole it's not a diet frendly to vegetarians, vegans and the gluten intolerant. Whilst in principle everyone is welcome and I can cater in the meals I cook to vegetarians and gluten free guests please bear in mind you will be surrounded by meat and dairy. Being honest Taste With Jase is probably not the best choice of trip for the vegan community or people who are very selective in what they do and don't eat.

Absolutely. Taste With Jase adventures are the perfect team building and learning events, get in touch here or click the Chat With Jase pop up. I have over twenty years as a consultant at the forefront of the European digital, advertising and branding industries so I am perfectly suited for hosting corporate guests. What I would say is the people attending need to have an interest in the subject of food, farming and wine and be respectful to the people we meet. If what you are looking for is an office p*ss up then Taste With Jase is not for you.

Our epicentre is Goriška Brda on the West of Slovenia next to the Italian border. A magical rolling landscape of vineyards, dotted with small villages. I have been visiting Slovenia since 2003 and it has been home to me in 2015 and permanently since 2019. I've been visiting Italy regularly since 2006 and for me nothing compares to the Italians love and appreciation for life, food, wine, community and company. As we grow we will also go further into The Balkans, a region I myself am keen to explore further.

Cultisan is a big idea I had in 2015 and brought to life at the end of 2020. It was a new global food direct to consumer retail concept based on small scale food producers, logistics and content. The values are exactly the same as Taste With Jase but the pandemic, Brexit, and the loss of a business partner to mental health issues meant the scale of the idea outstripped the resources to make it happen and also my belief that tech alone was the right path for me. Cultisn is still alive, just sleeping, whilst discussions in the background progress with a different view of how it will come to life. For now however, less is more. Taste With Jase doesn't rely on huge investments, and is people first not tech first, which may not be on trend but it is in line with my principles and beliefs.

Back in August, September and October 2021 I messaged all Cultisan subscribers to inform them that their subscriptions had been converted into credit in the marketplace (read why here). I understand not everyone may have seen the emails so please get in touch if you believe you still have Cultisan credit. That business is not operational any more because of the investors I had. I will do what I can to help personally.

I invested a lot of time and resources in creating the Cultisan app, and we had over 1000 downloads. I am very proud of what was created, it wasn't perfect but for a small start up a pretty big deal. I very much want to bring the app back but it needs some tweaks first and Taste With Jase is very much a boot strapped one man business so at the moment resources simply don't allow that to happen. For now we are web only and the app is not being supported. You can still make purchases but I urge you to use the web interface instead. I'm very sorry for any inconvenience.