The famous tastes of Serbia

When we talk about a nation, we are talking about their culture and history. An indispensable part of this story are the traditional cuisine and its specialties. In our case, rarely anyone remains indifferent to everything it has to offer, great taste and top spiciness.

It was influenced by our neighbors’ cuisines, primarily Greek and Turkish, but also Austrian, Bulgarian and Hungarian. It includes an abundance of tastes and aromas created by a mixture of influences of various nations that passed and lived in this area. As in culture in general, this blend of different influences has resulted in originality, so the rich Serbian cuisine offers unforgettable specialties that can only be tasted in Serbia. Although the strudel originates from Austria-Hungary, and the sarma from the former Ottoman Empire, the taste of these dishes and the way we prepare them, make them unique in the world.

Serbian cuisine is a blend of a very diverse, strong and spicy food. It is dominated by the use of meat, dough, vegetables and dairy products.

Food preparation is a very important part of the Serbian tradition and culture. In Serbian villages, the kitchen was also called “house”, and the central part was the fireplace, which was an important, cult place, next to which everyday life took place and the whole family gathered.

Serbian dishes that every foreigner visiting Serbia needs to taste are:

• Sarma (cabbage rolls), traditionally made from a mixture of minced meat, rice and spices wrapped in sauerkraut;
• Cevapi (kebab), small pieces of rolled grilled minced meat. What pizza is to Italians, hamburgers to Americans, cevapi is to the people of Balkan;
• Karadjordje steak, consists of rolled pork or veal steak stuffed with crème fraiche that is breaded and then fried. This is an original dish, created by Chef Milovan Mica Stojanovic in 1955, at Belgrade restaurant Golf;
• Ajvar, roasted red pepper sauce that can be put on everything from bread to meat;
• Komplet lepinja – when the best pršuta from Zlatibor is mixed with kajmak (home-made old milk cream), a flat bun, an egg and pretop (fat and sauce of lamb or pork roast), you get the authentic specialty;
• Prebranac (Serbian baked beans), made from beans, onions, garlic, paprika, with the addition of salt and pepper. Due to its composition and taste, it is very popular among vegetarians;
• Gibanica (Serbian cheese pie); This is a very simple pastry made from filo dough, white cheese and eggs. It is so widespread in Serbia that we can call it one of the symbols of Serbian cuisine;
• Kajmak, home-made old milk cream;
• Slatko, our traditional dessert. It is a fruit preserve that consists of distinguishable, usually whole pieces of fruit that are doused in a thick, sugary syrup.

Drinking coffee is a centuries-old tradition in Serbia, so do not miss the homemade coffee with baklava, vanilice (vanilla cookies) or rahat lokum, while the kind hosts will first offer you slatko and water in their homes.

For many dishes of Serbian national cuisine, there is no correct word in the dictionaries of foreign languages, nor a taste with which they can be compared. So it’s best to come and taste them.