Author: Rudina Hoxha
Place: Albania
Date: 12 January 2012

Baklava is always present on Albanian tables on New Year’s Day.  Its taste adds sweetness to the celebration. Per tradition, Albanian grandmothers begin preparing the dough long before the long-awaited day and maintain that a piece of baklava should be eaten by all in order to have a lucky year ahead.

Author: Rudina Hoxha
Place: Albania
Date: 28 November 2011

Albanian chef Lavdije Shehu won the first prize at this year’s Festival of International Gastronomy in Naples, Italy (11-26 July). She won the trophy for two traditional Albanian dishes over selections from 26 countries, including Indonesia, Brazil, Italy, Morocco, and Mexico.

Author: Risto Karajkov
Place: The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia**
Date: 08 August 2011

Talk of pastrmajlija can inflame spirits in many Macedonian cities. There is most likely no other single dish in the country that has ever been the object of so much rivalry. Everybody claims that pastrmajlija is theirs, and that they make the best one, or even more likely, the “true one”. One should always be careful in expressing a culinary judgment concerning the pastrmajlija in front of one’s hosts...

Author: Rudina Hoxha
Place: Albania
Date: 29 July 2011

Very few original Albanian recipes are in circulation nowadays, and young Albanians are missing the traditional recipes/dishes cooked by their grandmothers. One such individual is Rajmond Çomanaj, head chef at the Europapark Rogner Hotel in Tirana. He is trying to find a cookbook with traditional Albanian recipes dating from the times before the Second World War, and he is prepared to pay a fortune for it.

Author: Ivica Profaca
Place: Croatia
Date: 18 June 2011

It's easy to cook when surrounded by the wonders of the modern kitchen, with well supplied stores across the street, and a library full of your favourite cookbooks in the next room. However, what can one do in a kitchen squeezed under a boat deck, surrounded by miles of open sea, with recipes stored only by memory? These are the conditions under which Zlatko Gall, Croatian journalist, rock critic and gourmand, excels.

Author: Elton Baxhaku
Place: Albania
Date: 18 December 2010

"Albanians have two important elements on the table: bread and white cheese. If one of these is missing, it means that the food is not delicious" says Gjon Dukgilaj, who has returned to his native Albania after many years in Belgium to open a restaurant that specialises in local and organic food, rooted in Albanian traditions.

Author: Risto Karajkov
Place: Croatia 
Date: 2 December 2010

Often described as the “most beautiful” event of its kind in Croatia, the 8th Eco-Ethno Croatia Fair took place in Zadar from 13 – 17 October 2010. The fair has presented traditional products and services from Croatian rural areas since its inception in 2003. For the first time, the event was not organised in the capital Zagreb.

Author: Risto Karajkov
Place: Croatia 
Date: 30 November 2010

They are one of Istria’s major brands. Even the ancient Romans were fond of them and one legend has it that Jupiter’s thunder had a role in their creation. The association is, according to some, erotic in nature: Jupiter was a well-known lover and they are one of the most famous and expensive aphrodisiacs known today. Byron kept one on his desk for inspiration. There is a dilemma about whether they are food or merely a spice, but they have admirers the world over. Often, they are more expensive than gold.

Author: Rudina Hoxha
Place: Albania
Date: 11 November 2010

Against a backdrop of sweet serenades, as many as 140,000 glasses of domestic beer and significant amounts of traditional food were consumed over four consecutive nights during Korça’s Feast of Beer, which is thought to be the biggest public celebration in Albania.

Author: Marina Cenić
Place: Serbia
Date: 30 September 2010 

The first edition of Culinaria – a trade fair displaying fine food and drinks from Southeast Europe – raised expectations that it could develop into a prime international / regional event providing a basis for future cooperation amongst delicatessen producers in the region. 

Author: Rudina Hoxha
Place: Albania 
Date: 12 August 2010

The first ever TV chef in Albania, Tefta Pajenga argues that modern Albanian cuisine has become a combination of the traditional and other contemporary culinary elements.  “Various kinds of food and spices have been “borrowed” from abroad and become part of the Albanian menu today, because they were well adapted and liked by Albanians,” she said in an interview with Southeast Europe: People and Culture.

Author: Refki Alija
Place: Kosovo*
Date: 15 July 2010

Fliya, feliye, maznik, or palačinke, are only a few names for a type of a pancake baked in a pan placed underneath a hot earthen lid or in an oven. 

Author: Daniela Marinković
Place: Serbia
Date: 17 May 2010

Nikola Milovanović, 30, is a young Serbian chef, who presently specialises in Asian cuisine, with a CV that includes several prestigious Belgrade restaurants like Violeta Kućo Stara, Grand Casino, Salaš, ABC and Žabar. He now works in Iguana, a restaurant particularly popular among foreigners in Belgrade.

Author: Mediha Adrović 
Place: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date: 16 April 2010

Cuisine is a special and important segment of Bosnia and Herzegovina's cultural heritage, holding its own against the country's architecture, literature, folklore, weaving tradition and specific way of life.

Author: Refki Alija
Place: Kosovo*
Date: 1 March 2010

Šara cheese hails from the Šara Mountains which stretches over south-eastern Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania. No single recipe on how it is made exist, each manufacturer having their own approach and jealously guarding their secret in an attempt to surpass the competition.

Author: Umut Egitimci
Place: Turkey
Date: 14 January 2010

Having been based for more than 15 years in Luvr Apartment in Beyoglu, the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) moved to another historical building of Istanbul, Deniz Palas, in Sishane in December 2009.

Author: Ilija Despotović
Place: Montenegro
Date: 14 December 2009

Cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and curdled cream (kajmak) are not the only things one can make from milk. A dairy product commonly known as jardum, or grušavina, has been part of Montenegro’s tradition for centuries. The first name is part of the country’s Ottoman heritage, and is Turkish for ‘aid’ or ‘help’.

Would you like to get a real taste of Southeast Europe? Then why not try cooking some of their local dishes! You can consult our collection of recipes from the region.

Author: Ruby Russell
Place: Berlin
Date: 22 September 2009

Nezaket Ekici has taken one of the most simple and rewarding of cultural encounters – being invited into another’s home to share a meal – and turned it into a performance through which a Berlin audience of eighty are taken on a sensual journey to sample the culture and cuisine of Istanbul.

Author: Risto Karajkov
Place: Croatia
Date: 16 September 2009

Croatian cuisine is often called the cuisine of the regions, in recognition of the fact that every region in the country has its own distinct culinary tradition.  Croatia’s strong culinary diversity, relative to the size of the country, makes this land an exciting gastronomic adventure.

Author: Rudina Hoxha 
Place: Albania
Date: 17 September 2009

He has brought a sharp imagination, specific cooking skills and a precise way of doing things along with his knives. This has helped him make a name for himself amoung hotel chefs in Albania, where he has been working for three and a half years.

Author: Milica Ivanović
Place: Serbia
Date: 15 September 2009

The 20th annual Leskovac Barbecue Week reaffirmed itself this year as one of Southeast Europe's major culinary events, with over half a million domestic and foreign guests visiting Serbia's unofficial barbecue capital in the south of the country from 31 August to 6 September.

Author: Jovan Ristić
Place: Serbia
Date: 7 September 2009

Each year, there are three events in Serbia where music is a central theme. The louder two of these are Novi Sad’s Exit Music Festival and the Gu?a Brass Band Festival. However, the third festival – a kind of Serbian Oktoberfest – probably has the highest head count, given that it combines the pleasures of beer and rock music with free admission and a very accessible location: the heart of downtown Belgrade.

Author: Ilija Despotović
Place: Montenegro
Date: 13 July 2009

Lake Skadar, the largest fresh water reservoir in Europe, shared by Montenegro and Albania, is simmering with life this summer. It is a habitat to a colourful array of species, birds and fish, some of which are endemic to the region. Lake Skadar is a cryptodepression, its bottom lies lower than the sea level.
Bubbling close to the lake or the "big water", as it is called by the locals, are rows and rows of Vranac and Krsta? grapes, famous local varieties of red and green grapes...

Author: Gülhan Kara
Place: Turkey
Date: 23 March 2009

Every new season brings something new to the markets of Bodrum and unparalleled variety to its tables. The bounty of spring brings the superfresh herbs of the Aegean. The tables are arrayed with salads, meze [Turkish appetizers] and olive oil dishes.

Author:  Zoran Bendevski
Place: the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Date: 21 January 2009

The Republic of Macedonia has a long tradition of cultivating vines, but it has recently experienced a real revolution in enology and the art of marketing wines. This has nourished ambitions to make local, high-quality wines available also to Western markets

Author:  Mladen Jelićić
Place: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date: 23 January 2009

Discussing the cuisine of Bosnia and Herzegovina is quite a demanding task, because a lot of different cultures have left their marks in this small country over time. Let´s just mention some of the peoples who, during the past centuries, were ruling the area: Celts, Greeks, Romans, Slavs, Turks, Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, and so on. Even the Crusaders passed through Bosnia and Herzegovina.