Serbia

Nemanja Nikolic

Intro Serbian Cuisine

When we speak about Serbian cuisine, we are generally speaking about a fusion of Balkan, Mediterranean and Central European cooking styles blended in this delicious local mixture.

Even though Serbia is a relatively small country, every part of it has its own distinguished cooking style and “indigenous” dishes that are definitely worth tasting and quite delicious.

Although Serbian cuisine is predominantly based on meat, it offers a great deal of vegetarian and vegan dishes as well. A veriety of vegetables is used in most dishes, and most popular ones for slow cooking are beans, potatoes, peas, cabbage, greanbeans and peppers. The Balkan influence delivers a lot of grilled, roasted, slowly cooked pork, beef, chicken and lamb dishes. River fish such as trout, salmon, carp and catfish are quite popular and prepared in many different ways.

Sarma is something we Serbians consider our local definitely top three altime favorite foods, and there are a lot of facts that make this dish favorable and a must eat in Serbia. This dish has more than ten different variations, it has its summer and winter versions, it can be made with meat or vegetarian, it can be made of cabbage, wine leaf, or even a type of spinach. It is basically a mixed minced meat with spices rolled up in one of the mentioned leaves and slowly cooked for hours usually in huge clay pots. It is traditionally served at any kind of celebration and definitely an essential part of every Serbian’s diet and life.

Leskovacka Muckalica is a dish coming from south-eastern Serbia, from a city called Leskovac, well known for its barbeque (and a big barbeque festival) famous across the Balkans. This dish is made of pork meat sliced in small cubes an slowly cooked for hours together with chopped peppers, tomatoes, onions and spices. There is a spicy and a mild version of this meal but the traditional one comes with chilly peppers. Beloved in entire Serbia this dish is highly recommend for everyone that visits this country.