Serbian cuisine shares characteristics with the rest of the Balkan nations. Serbian food is characterized by a mixture of Mediterranean, Central European, Ottoman Turkish, as well as ancient Slavic influences. Serbian cuisine has gathered elements from different cooking styles across the Middle East and Europe to develop it's own healthy gastronomy with an intricate balance of rich meats, vegetables, cheese, fresh pastries and desserts. Eating seasonal food is very important and many dishes are strongly associated with a specific time of the year. Most people in Serbia will have three meals daily, breakfast, lunch and dinner, with lunch being the largest.
BREAKFAST
As we all know, the breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We tend to eat very early to provide the energy for the beginning of the day. In the traditional parts of Serbia, we usually eat PROJA (cornbread)
GIBANICA (cheese pie)
KAČAMAK - this dish is made of cornmeal added with usually milk, cheese and čvarci
BUREK - which is actually a Turkish dish but Serbs excepted as their own
Working people usually don't have time in the morning to prepare any breakfast, so, on their way to work, they stop by a bakery and buy some pastry. As for morning drinks, Serbs drink black coffee which we call "Turkish coffee"because we got it from them.
Lunch
Serbs eat very strong and spicy food for lunch. It's usually roštilj (barbecue) but also soups followed with salads. ROŠTILJ
KARAĐORĐEVA ŠNICLA is one of the favourite dish of the Serbs, its a breaded rolled steak filled with kajmak, ham and cheese
ĆEVAPI - ground pork or beef meat stik
PLJESKAVICA - ground pork or beef meat patty
ĐUVEČ - a vegetable dish
GULAŠ - this is Hungarian dish; a paprika-spiced meat
PASULJ - bean
SARMA - cabbage or vine leaves filled with rice or minced meat
PUNJENE PAPRIKE - similar as sarma; peppers filled with rice or minced meat
BORANIJA - green beans
Lunch is followed with very rich salads. The most famous is ŠOPSKA SALATA, made from a seasonal vegetables
The soups are really important. If you ever come to Serbia you must try our chicken soup and our RIBLJU ČORBU (fish soup)
I can't forget AJVAR; It's a pepper-based condiment made principally from red bell peppers. It may also contain garlic, eggplant and chili peppers
As I said, because of the seasoning , lunch (must) be followed with RAKIJA. Rakija is fruit brandy which can contain 50%-80% alcohol. As Russians are famous because of vodka, Serbs are famous beacuse of rakija. It is made of distill fruits. The process of making rakija takes a few moths and it is kept in the barrel. The interesting thing about rakija is that the longer rakija stays in barrel, the better taste it has. The best rakija is 15-20 years old. People should be very careful when drinking rakija. It's very strong and sometimes even Serbs can exaggerate. There are many sorts of rakija, for example:
ŠLJIVOVICA - plum
LOZOVAČA - grapes
KAJSIJEVAČA - apricot
BRESKVA - peach
VILJAMOVKA - pear
DUNJEVAČA - quince *mine personal favorite :))
VIŠNJEVAČA - sour cherry
MEDOVAČA - with honey ...
Desserts
SLATKO - a fruit preserve
KOMPOT - a non-alcoholic sweet beverage
TUFAHIJE - a dessert made of walnut- stuffed apples stewed in water with sugar
BAKLAVE - sweet pastry
TULUMBE - a fried batter soaked in syrup
UŠTIPCI - similar to doughnuts
PALAČINKE - thin pancakes
and various sorts of cakes.
Like rakija, Serbs like to drink things that they made by themselves. So, we also make homemade wine and juices.
Meal in my country is very important and it's passing from generation to generation. Young girls learn how to cook from their mothers and grandmothers, so the recipes stay authentic and to cherish tradition.
I got hungry while writing this :)) Have a pleasant meal or how we, Serbs, say: PRIJATNO! :)
photo source: Google Image