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It Looks Like Americans Like Eating Serbian Food

We just wrote about an American, Hocknod, who traveled this summer to Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Bosnia, Italy, and Serbia. He went on to say that the best food can be found in Novi Sad, Serbia. It looks like Americans like eating Serbian food. Now we have another example as well. But, this time it’s more interesting, because the story involves an American women (born, raised, and educated in Bombay, India until she came to the U.S. at the age of 15), Debika Pal who apparently is inspired by good food and fresh ingredients. Debika Pal had a quick trip to Belgrade, Serbia. The key point raised by the link above is that Belgrade has many excellent restaurants. Her first meal was Serbian fast food “The meal was complete with the addition of a good, local Serbian lager called Lav.” She also tried a well known seafood restaurant called Saran (Carp). And her last meal in Belgrade was at Dva Jelena (Two Deer), one of about a dozen traditional Serbian restaurants on Skadarska street.

“I was lucky to have my final dinner with two locals at Dva Jelena, a restaurant in existence since 1832. That was enough to get me to eat there. Musicians played traditional music and were nice enough to smile when I took their picture. Here I ordered a sampler of appetizers, which had my favorite kajmak, some cured meats, corn bread, baked beans, feta cheese, and meat cooked in phyllo dough. I was in heaven! … My last meal is Serbia was fantastic, and left me excited to return.”

It seems that the American, Debika Pal, really enjoyed eating Serbian food, and her too brief time in Belgrade.

American Tourist Says Serbian Women & Food Best

In September, we wrote how an American called Hocknod was having a good time in Belgrade, enjoying Serbian food and Belgrade’s atmosphere. And here we go again… Hocknod has delivered his last blog post from his epic travels around Europe. In fact, Hocknod has just listed the best, worst and in between things about Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia, and Italy. The final scorecard is so good that I ended up including the whole thing, because it’s too good not to read — but check out Hocnod’s site directly.

Best women: Serbia/Greece
Best people: Belgrade, Serbia (totally biased but whatever)
Coolest travelers met: backpackers in Copenhagen/on trains to, from Belgrade
Best food: Novi Sad, Serbia
Worst food: Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark
Most beautiful city: Venice, Italy
Most beautiful non-city: Republic of Srpskom, Bosnia and Herzogovenia (or wherever the hell I really was)
Best beaches: Greece
Most interesting (recent) history: Hungary/Serbia
Best bang for your buck: Belgrade/Budapest
Worst bang for your buck: Copenhagen, Denmark
Coolest historical site: underground castle labyrinth, Budapest/Pompeii
Most English Spoken: Sweden/Denmark
Least English Spoken: Italy
Currency that was most difficult to calculate: Serbian Dinar (66 dinars to 1 USD? seriously?)
Weakest currency: Hungarian Forint, the HUF (1000 HUF = $5)
Most embarrassing moment that nobody saw: drying my clothes with the stove in Venice
Backpackers’ dream: Budapest (cheap, plethora of places to stay, easy to meet other travelers, high backpacker-to-tourist ratio)
Backpackers’ nightmare: Venice (very expensive, extremely difficult to navigate, shortage of younger visitors, very high tourist-to-backpacker ratio)
Most nazi-ish country about their internet: Italy (charge €6/hour for access at internet cafés, require passports and an Italian cell phone for hotspot usage)
Most terrifying place to cross the street: Naples, Italy (definitely saw a pedestrian get struck crossing the street)

Serbian Plums & Nostalgia

Okay, I don’t have much of a comment on this one either way, other than that I found it to be quite an interesting story, and thought some of you might appreciate it as well. It’s all about Serbian plums and nostalgia. Well, sorta:

“Plums are the quintessential Serbian fruit, they occupy a special place in the collective memory of the people living in this country. Serbia is one of the main producers of plums in the world, there are dozens of varieties, sweet and sour, spicy… They eat them fresh, they use them in pastries, to cook jam – and, of course, to produce the inspiring plum brandy, Slivovica… Thinking about plums is remembering the days of summer, in the countryside, happy days with family and friends, nights with music, dancing and drinking, sweet childhood memories… Now summer is over again, days are getting shorter and the plum trees soon will be only dark rackabones…”

Serbian Hospitality Is Not A Myth

Nic and Jon Bardgett followed their dream of going on a big cycling trip. And, as the British couple quickly realised, Serbian hospitality isn’t as much a myth as everything else:

“What a delight to arrive in Serbia… The one thing we have found out about Serbia is that people are so helpful! Cycling through the towns we have been offered breakfast coffee lunch, bed / just about everything. One of these days we were passing through a quite big town (home of the Zastava) when a guy stopped us and offered us a drink and the use of his internet.”

It seems that the Serbs reputation for hospitality is not a myth. Unfortunately, they don’t have any photos of Serbia. “We don’t have hardly any of Serbia, cos it was the people that overwhelmed us more than the landscape. We left fully loaded with plums, tomatoes, a bottle of Serbian herbal alcohol.”

Many things in Serbia have remained unchanged since the time of the former Yugoslavia and perhaps the most striking of these is the hospitality shown to strangers. That said, in Serbia, it’s not unusual to be invited into a stranger’s home for coffee (also Rakija), a meal or even to spend the night. Of course, it will be bad manners to refuse what is offered, or to attempt to pay for it. Welcome to Serbia, the land of hospitable people.

Enjoying Serbian Cuisine In Belgrade – Skadarlija

Over the summer, we wrote about Fabian McKenzie, an assistant with the Canadian development women’s basketball team, having an amazing meal in a restaurant in Skadarlija (Belgrade’s Bohemian quarter). “What an amazing meal in an amazing environment.” The latest example of a foreigner enjoying Serbian cuisine comes from Anna, an Australian women, visiting family and friends in Serbia.

“And after a short wander down the street (which I love love love), we sauntered over to ‘Ima Dana’ (’There are Days’), a restaurant serving traditional Serbian cuisine. After some careful deliberation over the menu, I opted for the Pork schnitzel covered in cheese and champignon sauce and a mixed salad. The mixed salad consists of grilled peppers drizzled in garlic sauce, cabbage salad and a selection of cut vegetables. Delicious.”

It’s just another example of a foreigner enjoying Serbian cuisine in Belgrade, and Skadarlija’s amazing atmosphere.

Leaving Serbia – No Not At All

Maja was the first of a few of you to send in this amazing blog post detailing the history and evolution of a production company based in Belgrade called 1984, which is specialized in commercials. The story is fascinating for a variety of reasons, and well worth reading. It highlights the fact that doing business in Serbia isn’t something that only Serbs can do.

Of course, the title “leaving Serbia” is slightly misleading. The title leads the reader to believe that Serbia’s most awarded production company, 1984, is leaving Serbia. No not at all:

“Ivo and myself always talk about leaving Serbia. Not literally, but figuratively. To be literal would be ironic, considering the fact that we left South Africa to come here.

You see, there’s something about being in a place that’s untouched and undeveloped that is both magnificent and profoundly frustrating at the same time. Magnificent because of what can be achieved and frustrating because sometimes in places like that, the people who come from there simply can not see the virtues and wonders of that place. Serbia is precisely on such place. Untouched, unexplored and illogical. It possesses all the characteristics of a dark comedy. Yet, there is so much that makes it so remarkably plausible and so overtly feasible as a location for one to have a production company.

And so, each day for the foreseeable future is going to be spent trying to leave Serbia while trying to get people to come here.”

A French In Belgrade

A French guy from Rennes, put up a blog post over at Atractivoquenobello, talking about the few days he spent in Belgrade. He highty recommended Belgrade “Belgrade is an essential stop. Sure might not be as touristic as Zagreb or Dubrovnik … but it has just as much charm and many more bars.”

First, he pointed out its first impression of Belgrade “The first one is that Belgrade could perfectly be the capital of any western country. Its Austrian-inspired cafes, the omnipresent historic landmarks and the hustle and bustle of the city are attractive if not overwhelming.”

Second, he went on to write a small guide to Belgrade, talking about Begrade city’s hot spot. Just to name a few, the French guy went to Belgrade Fortress Kalemegdan “Inside the fortress you’ll find not only a bunch of bars, restaurants or kiosks but also the Army Museum, a Zoo and some Tennis & Basket courts where it’s very common for young Belgraders to go & train (Paratizan basket club!). At night the fortress packs with young couples and groups of adolescents who like to get lost in the nooks & crannies of this viewpoint…. very magic.” and Pionirski Park “where the boulevards and squares give to Belgrade the image of a majestic capital.”

Of course, the French guy didn’t forget to mention Belgrade’s nightlife. In fact, he talks about Skadarlija, Belgrade’s famous Bohemian quarter, and Belgrade’s nightlife, claiming that “Belgrade’s nightlife is so famous that people from all around the Balkans go there to party.” The whole article really is worth reading. It seems that whatever your taste in culture, you’ll find something in Belgrade that satisfies your interest.

A Black Hip Hopper In Belgrade

aLLeYNe & tEMuS are a hip hop black group from Toronto. Christopher Rudder ”Alleyne” (pronounced ahhh-lean) recently visited Belgrade. It seems that Rudder likes Belgrade: “After leaving his stop over in Rome, Italy, aLLeYNe arrives in beautiful Belgrade. The sights, the sounds are all new as he’s never been there before. He walk’s through Knez Mihailova street and visits Kalemegdan and old fortress.” Great video, and great songs.

A Swedish In Belgrade – People Are Friendly

Earlier this year, I wrote about a man named Wade, who had ventured through over 40 countries on five continents, claiming that Belgrade was very much welcoming and overtly friendly. In fact, never in nearly all of his travels he received so many smiles in response to his questions and requests than in Belgrade. The latest example comes from a guy from Sweden, Magnus Danielson, traveling around the globe, who spent five days in Belgrade. What he found in Belgrade was extremely friendly people:

Hi guys, have spent the last couple of days in Belgrade… just a fantastic city… I am so amazed with the people who are extremely friendly and helpful to strangers. If you stop someone on the street to chat or ask for directions they always take the time and perhaps walk with you a part of the way to make sure you get right… amazing!

It works quite well as a response to people who insist that Belgraders are not friendly and helpful to foreigners.

Australian Newspaper – Belgrade Is Full Of Surprises

It looks like another newspaper is recognizing the power of Belgrade. The West Australian, a daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, is running an editorial by Steve McKenna ‘Gritty Belgrade full of pleasant surprises‘:

“Belgrade is full of surprises. A few blocks from its polluted and rundown side streets is a neat Viennese-style pedestrian mall lined with shops, cafes and bars, while throughout the city are an abundance of parks boasting colourful floral displays and riverfront areas offering a wealth of sports
and leisure activities.”

Steve McKenna also enjoyed Belgrade’s excellent and inexpensive restaurants. “The food is inexpensive, largely delicious and comes in huge portions” and concluded (accurately) that Belgrade has a lot of potential. “For now, Belgrade is still one of Europe’s roughest diamonds but you get the feeling it won’t be too long before the polish is applied.” For those of you who’ve never been to Belgrade – what are you waiting for?