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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.

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.