Croatian experience wouldn't be complete without trying traditional and local Croatian cuisine. Croatia is known for variety of traditional meals making it heterogeneous as each region has its own distinct way of preparing different meals. The differences are most notable between northern mainland and southern coastal regions. The Regions Mainland is represented by heavy and very meaty meals characterized by the earlier Slavic cuisine with Turkish and Hungarian influences. It is common to use lard for preparing almost any meal, even pastries and sweets. In addition to a lot of salt, often used spices include onion, garlic, paprika and black paper. Coastal, more southern cuisine on the other hand, could be best described as light and quite healthy, very typical Mediterranean cuisine; in particular Italian (and especially Venetian). Its roots date back to ancient times, but here, Greek and Roman cuisine had the biggest influence on the Southern Croatian way of preparing meals. Coastal cuisine is known for using olive oil like there’s no tomorrow. Most common herbs are bay leaves, rosemary, nutmeg, sage, oregano, cinnamon, marjoram, clove and lemon and orange zest. Charcuterie is also part of the Croatian tradition in all regions, especially in Southern parts where they serve homemade cheese and prosciutto together with olives, grapes and wine. Nowadays it is considered a delicacy and could be quite expensive. Homemade recipes from other Balkan, once Yugoslav countries are also very popular in Croatia. Most distinct cuisines in Croatia would be from Dalmatia, Istria, Dubrovnik, Gorski Kotar, Lika, Zagorje, Podravina, Slavonija and Međimurje; each of which with its own specific characteristics and cooking traditions and are not necessarily well known in other parts of Croatia. Most dishes could be, however, found all across the country, with variants adapted to the local taste. The Flavours Here’s a list of
Croatian experience wouldn’t be complete without trying traditional and local Croatian cuisine. Croatia is known for variety of traditional meals making it heterogeneous as each region has its own distinct way of preparing different meals. The differences are most notable between northern mainland and southern coastal regions. The Regions Mainland is represented by heavy and very meaty meals characterized by the earlier Slavic cuisine with Turkish and Hungarian influences. It is common to use lard for preparing almost any meal, even pastries and sweets. In addition to a lot of salt, often used spices include onion, garlic, paprika and black paper. Coastal, more southern cuisine on the other hand, could be best described as light and quite healthy, very typical Mediterranean cuisine; in particular Italian (and especially Venetian). Its roots date back to ancient times, but here, Greek and Roman cuisine had the biggest influence on the Southern Croatian way
