Jelena: food in Serbia

As I am a foreigner, people I meet are curious to know something more about my country, Serbia. One of the usual questions they have about my homeland is related to food. 

Everybody wants to know what the typical Serbian dish is, but it’s impossible to give an accurate answer. Why is that? Well, it may sound strange, but apparently there’s nothing we could call a fully-fledged Serbian dish. What we usually tend to eat is a mixture of different cuisines – Hungarian, French, Italian, but mostly Turkish, as I expect people to know that Serbia was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries. Comparing with Spain, I can freely say that we have the same appetite, although there is a slight difference in the timetable. 

Cheese pie

To understand it better, you have to know that in Serbia the sun rises and sets two hours earlier than in Spain, so we have our meals before Spaniards, despite the fact that a new, faster style of life is changing our habits. Breakfast is a must, from eight to ten in the morning, and it has to be strong, so there’s normally a big greasy sandwich, bacon or sausage with eggs, a pie (filled with meat, cheese, potatoes, spinach, or the sweet version, with apples, cherries, nuts or pumpkin) or, if you prefer a healthy meal, cereals with milk or yoghurt. I have to mention that in Serbia we more often drink the natural yoghurt, without sugar, and it’s something I really miss here. Lunch is between one and four in the afternoon, and dinner from six to eight in the evening. Our everyday menu is based on meat, vegetables and potatoes. The soup is consumed quite a lot as well, and weekends are marked with some home-made desserts like pancakes, sweet pies, tarts and other delicacies. 

The typical Rakija

I grew up in a village and I can’t think of any visit to friends or relatives when we didn’t have to eat. Offering food to a visitor is a sign of hospitality, and if you have the chance to go to Serbia and stay in someone’s house, especially in the rural environment, you should know that you won’t be able to refuse anything. First you’ll be served a cup of coffee and a drink. We usually have a black coffee, but if you’re lucky, your host may offer Nescafé too. Talking about drinks, there is always some kind of alcohol, whether a bottle of beer, a glass of home-made wine or rakija (aguardiente), commonly made of plums, apricots or grapes. It’s not something I’m proud of, but the Serbs drink a lot, and they will certainly watch you while you’re drinking, just to see what kind of person you are, depending on how much alcohol you can stand. 

Sarma (meaning "a wrapped thing")

Then comes the food. Fortunately for the shy ones, in Serbia it is customary to keep offering food, to insist that you have to eat, if it is necessary for half an hour, or somebody will just put a plate in front of you so there’s no point in saying that you’re not hungry, because it is just impossible, everybody is ready to eat anytime, for God’s sake! There is a proverb you can hear frequently in Serbia saying that health is gained through your mouth, so a good nutrition is something you have to take care of. In the winter they’ll serve you at least some smoked meat, local cheese and a salad, but if your host knows in advance that you are coming, then you should be prepared for some soup, a cooked chicken or veal, baked meat (pork, chicken or veal) or even sarma, a dish of grape, cabbage or chard leaves rolled around a filling mainly based on minced meat. And at the end of the meal, a dessert, which you can’t refuse either, because it is made especially for you, ha! 

Baklava, a sweet pastry

Slava, the typical bread

Not only do we like to eat, but food takes a very important place in our culture too. On New Year’s day, at Christmas, Easter, on a birthday, wedding day, baptism day, the day of slava (the saint’s day), or even when somebody dies, we cook enormous quantities of food. During the fast, for example before Christmas or Easter, we don’t eat any animal products (meat that is, except fish, eggs, milk, etc.) so the central role is taken by fish, beans and vegetables. For Christmas we bake pigs (not piglets ☺), and I compare Christmas in Serbia with any other day here in Salamanca, when the whole town smells of roast chicken. 

From my point of view, when it comes to food, I have been quite lucky, as the Spanish cuisine is not much different than Serbian, but I have to admit that the Spanish products have a better quality, and the offer is significantly bigger. I have made some changes in my diet, introducing chickpeas and lentils, and what indeed brought joy to my life, turrón, 300 grams of pure pleasure, so I can’t understand its sudden disappearance after Christmas. If you ask me, there should be turrón in the supermarkets all year long. In Serbia we have halva, a type of hard confection we adopted from the East, of course, but turrón takes a special place in my heart, I think you can understand my affection. Then, there’s the famous ham, Spanish tortilla, churros with hot chocolate and other tasty specialties I can’t help eating. 

To conclude, we Serbs might not have a representative national dish, but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy eating.