{"id":3903,"date":"2018-03-01T13:01:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2018.europe.wordcamp.org\/?p=3903"},"modified":"2018-06-14T22:34:13","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T21:34:13","slug":"five-serbian-dishes-and-drinks-you-need-to-try-during-wceu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/five-serbian-dishes-and-drinks-you-need-to-try-during-wceu\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Serbian Dishes and Drinks You Need to Try During #WCEU"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Discover<\/a>
Discover Belgrade – Get to know Serbian traditions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You’ll probably overeat during your stay in Serbia, because if you leave something on your plate, your host or a chef in the restaurant may think that you didn\u2019t like the food. \ud83d\ude42 We like and respect food a lot. You will not find many restaurants with modern molecular cuisine but mostly ones with either domestic or Italian food.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always a good idea to try some local food when travelling to a new county, so we’ve prepared a list of dishes you shouldn\u2019t miss.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Top 5 Serbian Dishes<\/h2>\n

Sarma<\/h3>\n

There are two different ways to prepare Sarma. The first, and more specific for Serbia, is with sour cabbage leaves. The other way is to prepare it with green leaves, grape or chard.<\/p>\n

\"Green
Image source: Wikimedia.org<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sarma is prepared by filling the leaves with rice, minced meat, and spices. Leaves get rolled and cooked slowly in water with a bit of oil, smoked meat, and spices. It is served warm with salad and potatoes if it\u2019s a cabbage leaf sarma, and with sour cream if it\u2019s a green leaf sarma.<\/p>\n

\"Sour
Image source: Kuvajza.me<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kajmak<\/h3>\n

Kajmak is a highly nutritious salty milk product, similar to clotted cream, which is mostly served as a spread with warm bread or proja. The traditional way of making kaymak is to boil milk at 100\u00b0C, then boil it gently for a couple of hours at a lower temperature. When the milk gets warm (and not hot) the cream is skimmed off and left to cool down. Kaymak has typically about 60% of milk fat. If it\u2019s older it has a thick consistency. The lighter one has a creamy consistency and is less salty.<\/p>\n

\"Kajmak\"
Image source: Serbia.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gibanica<\/h3>\n

Gibanica is the most popular pastry dish in Serbia. It’s very often served on festive occasions or as a family snack. In Serbia, the dish is eaten for breakfast or dinner and often served at traditional events such as Christmas, Easter, and Slava. It\u2019s mostly served with yogurt or other sour milky products. Its name comes from the verb \u201cgibati\u201d which means to fold, rock or swing, since that is the way it’s prepared.<\/p>\n

\"Gibanica\"
Image source: Danina Kuhinja<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Proja<\/h3>\n

Proja is one of the easiest and cheapest pastry dishes to prepare. Because of the simplicity of preparing it and its very basic ingredients, you can try to prepare one while you are reading this post. \ud83d\ude42 Since it\u2019s sometimes called cornbread, all that you need to prepare it is fine corn flour, oil, salt, and baking soda. You can find the recipe everywhere on the internet<\/a>. However, this might not be a native Serbian dish, as they modified it by adding some cheese, bacon or ham, which turns Proja into a tasty appetizer, breakfast or dinner.<\/p>\n

\"Proja\"
Image source: Dr.Bojana<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pasulj<\/h3>\n

In Serbia, we have an idiom \u201csimple as pasulj\u201d which is equal to \u201cas easy as pie\u201d or \u201ca piece of cake\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pasulj is a simple bean soup cooked with kidney bean as the main ingredient. To give it a rich taste, it is cooked together with smoked meat, bacon, and ham. Another way to prepare it is by cooking it in the oven until it gets almost dry with no sauce. That dish is named “prebranac” and it’s sometimes gratinated with a mixture of flour, breadcrumbs and powdered red pepper. When it\u2019s prepared in this way, it is always served with grilled sausages.<\/p>\n

\"Kuvani
Image source: Srbija Danas<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Top 5 Serbian Drinks<\/h2>\n

We don’t have any specific juices to be proud of, so the focus of this section is on alcoholic drinks. A lot of Serbian traditions, holidays and celebrations are related to our drinks. We have festivals dedicated to beer, Rakija, and wine. Popular hard alcoholic drinks in Serbia are produced from fruits and the softer ones are produced from honey or grape.<\/p>\n

Rakija \u0160ljivovica or \u201cPlum Brandy\u201d<\/h3>\n

\u0160ljivovica is the most popular and most traditional drink in Serbia. You can\u2019t have any celebration without it. Rakija is a name given to an alcoholic drink made from the distillation of fermented fruit. It is a clear-as-water kind of drink, with a percentage of alcohol that can range from approximately 40% to 65%. You might think that Rakija is similar to brandy or schnapps and that there\u2019s nothing new here. But, in fact, there lies an entire world to be discovered, as Rakija has its own tradition, its own rituals, and particularities.<\/p>\n

\"Domaca
Image source: Istinito<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can find \u0160ljivovica in many other Slavic countries and it is prepared in a similar way.<\/p>\n

However, the name \u0160ljivovica is coming from a Serbian word for plum \u201c\u0160ljiva\u201c which is one of our national fruits as well as one of the export products with the second place in the world after China. In Serbia, there are a lot of rules for \u0160ljivovica manufacturers. The first and most important is the plum cultivar used for distillation.<\/p>\n

We use domestic cultivar Po\u017eegaca for \u0160ljivovica. In other countries, very often you see yeast, starch, and sugar added during the fermentation of the mixture. This is strictly forbidden in Serbia.<\/p>\n

After legal disputes, following the compromise of 2007, “Serbian Slivovitz” became Serbia’s first certified national brand.<\/p>\n

Medova\u010da<\/h2>\n

This brandy is made by mixing 1kg of honey and 7g of propolis with 4l of Rakija (brandy).The ingredients are mixed and left to form a uniform colour and density. Brandy has a golden-yellow colour with a slight scent and aftertaste of honey.<\/p>\n

\"Medovaca
Image source: Itinari<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Medova\u010da\/honey brandy is a traditional natural beverage. It falls into the category of a liquor and has a healing effect. It is considered good for circulation, as a remedy against bacteria and viruses, and helpful for improving appetite and digestion. It is recommended that it be consumed chilled.<\/p>\n

Serbs use many of the common fruits of the region like apricots, pears, grapes (similar to the Italian grappa), and even quince.<\/p>\n

The design of the special glass \u201c\u010dokanj\u010di\u0107\u201d<\/a> makes it taste better. When you drink medova\u010da from a shot glass or other type of glass, it is not the same. Medova\u010da is a great way to start a meal or a social evening.<\/p>\n

Beer<\/h2>\n

Beer has been a favourite light alcoholic drink in Serbia since the 15th century.<\/p>\n

\"Srpska
Image source: Wikimedia.org<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the moment we have three major breweries run by Heineken, Carlsberg, and Molson, all of which produce both domestic brands and foreign beers. The most popular local beers are Jelen and Lav, followed by Jagodinsko and Zaje\u010darsko. Serbs mostly drink pale beer but there are some dark beers being produced as well.<\/p>\n

Vinjak<\/h2>\n

Vinjak is a brandy produced by Rubin, the Serbian alcohol drinks manufacturer, and it is a fully natural product derived from grapes. The root of its name comes from vino (the Serbian word for wine).<\/p>\n

\"Rubinov
Image source: Vladimir Jovanovic<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vinjak is a light brown colour and it contains around 60% of alcohol which defines it as a hard alcoholic drink. In modern times, it is very often mixed with energy drinks like Guarana or Red Bull. Like French cognac, Vinjak is labeled with VS (Very Special), VSOP (Very Special Old Pale) or XO (Extra Old), depending on its age.<\/p>\n

White Wine<\/h2>\n

As Serbian wines are not so popular and wines are not the drinks that we are proud of, there is one type that you should try while you are here. The white wine, Smederevska, in combination with soda or sparkly mineral water is a very refreshing alcoholic drink on the same level as beer. In Serbia, that drink is called \u0161pricer and you can even buy it in cans, both with white and rose wine.<\/p>\n

\"Smederevka\"
Image source: Vinopedia.rs<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

By now, you must be hungry and thirsty!<\/h2>\n

And it’s normal that you are. \ud83d\ude31 But before coming to Belgrade to try all these amazing dishes and drinks, don’t forget to\u00a0buy your WordCamp Europe ticket today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ticket includes entry to our 2-day event, lunch, coffee and snacks for both days, our yearly collectible event t-shirt, access to the After Party, and entrance to Contributor Day (registrations open separately).<\/p>\n

Get your ticket<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’ll probably overeat during your stay in Serbia, because if you leave something on your plate, your host or a chef in the restaurant may think that you didn\u2019t like the food. \ud83d\ude42 We like and respect food a lot. You will not find many restaurants with modern molecular cuisine but mostly ones with either […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14459615,"featured_media":3951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1236505,3],"tags":[1064084,26233,338411,1064361],"class_list":["post-3903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discover-belgrade","category-news","tag-belgrade","tag-drinks","tag-food","tag-serbia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/files\/2018\/03\/wceu-18-post-discover-belgrade-4-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QI2W-10X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14459615"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3903"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4033,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903\/revisions\/4033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}