Foods in Montenegro 🇲🇪 and Croatia 🇭🇷

Croatian food is a delightful fusion of Mediterranean, Central European, and Balkan influences. That’s why Croatians enjoy a mouthwatering array of dishes that reflect the country’s history, culture, and geography.

Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is known as a cuisine of the regions, since every region of Croatia has its own distinct culinary tradition. Its roots date back to ancient times. The differences in the selection of foodstuffs and forms of cooking are most notable between those in mainland and those in coastal regions. Mainland cuisine is more characterized by the earlier Slavic and the more recent contacts with Hungarian and Turkish cuisine, using lard for cooking, and spices such as black pepper, paprika, and garlic.[1][2] The coastal region bears the influences of Greek and Roman cuisine, as well as of the later Mediterranean cuisine, in particular Italian (especially Venetian). Coastal cuisines use olive oil, herbs and spices such as rosemary, sage, bay leaf, oregano, marjoram, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and lemon and orange rind. Peasant cooking traditions are based on imaginative variations of several basic ingredients (cereals, dairy products, meat, fish, vegetables, nuts) and cooking procedures (stewing, grilling, roasting, baking), while bourgeois cuisine involves more complicated procedures and use of selected herbs and spices. Charcuterie is part of the Croatian culinary tradition in all regions. Food and recipes from other former Yugoslav countries are also popular in Croatia.🇭🇷

The average Montenegrin table at any farm stay is generally laden with meat, fresh cheese, homemade bread and salads made from fresh vegetables. Also present are richly flavoured dishes such as stews, smoked fish, and Montenegrin food classics like kacamak and priganice.