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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 46 (2012) 1673 - 1678
WCES 2012
Traditional diets of Bosnia and the representation of the traditional
food in the cuisine field
Vildana Alibabica, Ibrahim Mujicb 1*, Dusan Rudicb, Melisa Bajramovica, Stela Jokicc
Edina Sertovic a
a University of Bihac, Biotechnical Faculty, Luke marjanovica bb, 77000 Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina bColegium Fluminense Polytechnic of Rijeka Trpimirova 2/V, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia cUniversity ofJosip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek, Faculty of Food Technology, F. Kuhaca 20, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
Tradition is a cultural heritage that is passed down from generation to generation, and refers to their knowledge, crafts, rituals, moral codes, and customs. The term ''traditional food' 'is defined as a way of preparing food and nutrition in rural families in the past up until the mid-twentieth century. Considering that Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the strategic areas of development in tourism and the development of rural areas, the question is what was the traditional food of the Bosnian Krajina and how many traditional foods, were retained in the design of cuisine. The data was collected by survey, interviewing 50 people over the age of 70 years old. The questions were: what type of food they ate in the past, how the food was prepared, what were the customs of everyday life and during different celebrations? Furthermore, by review different menu's of 30 catering establishments it was determined the number and types of traditional foods represented in today's cuisine.The results show that the traditional lifestyle of the Bosnian Krajina was very simple and poor. The food was prepared from raw materials of vegetable origin, and very rarely from animal, which was due to the low standard of living. The most common types of food were made from wheat and corn, and the most frequent were cooked foods. Special attention was paid to food for celebrations. Today on offer in Bosnian Krajina, there are a small number of traditional foods, but those that are offered are prepared in the traditional way. The style of presentation is impoverished, where the appearance of traditional décor, objects and ambience are most important. In the promotion of tourism Bosnian cuisine with its very different, unique and nutritional richness, could be used to help it become recognized as a tourist culinary destination and a pleasure for guests in this area.
© 2012 Published b y Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu Keywords: traditional food, traditional diet, gastronomic offer;
1. Introduction
It seems that traditional foods are given a positive image across Europe (Almli et al, 2011) and are increasingly sought (Vanhonacker et al, 2010). This is because consumers want less industrial products with additives (Dickson -Spilman et al, 2011), products with genetically modified ingredients (Costa - Font et al., 2008). Especially, they resist to globalization of taste, which is the case with fast food (Ruzic and Dropulic, 2009). Also, traditional food is
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +385 91 25 18 373; fax: +385 52 451 950. E-mail address: ibrahim.mujic@ri.t-com.hr.
1877-0428 © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.05.359
a key element to recognize the dietary patterns of any country. But, there is no available information about such foods. The collection of data concerning traditional food and the dietary habits of different cultures across Europe was conducted on behalf of the Traditional Food project, which is the part of the European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR). The objective of the project is to provide new nutritional data on traditional foods for use in national food composition tables (Costa et al, 2010). Traditional food were popularized from the aspect of tourist attractions and territorial brands for tourist development, and promoted in terms of healthy eating (Lorenzini et al, 2011; Athena et al, 2011; Pestek and Nikolic, 2011). Research of this kind is very important to Bosnia and Herzegovina from many different aspects. One of which is the war damage over the last 100 years in which the cultural heritage has been systematically destroyed therefore, the data on traditional foods is unavailable. The strategic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina is to develop tourism where the traditional culinary experience would be of the key attractions therefore the collection of culinary data would be desirable.
The key difference of Bosnian cuisine to other south-Slavic cuisines are that the traditional Bosnian meals do not use a variety of hot spices and the meals are mainly prepared by slow simmering in their own juices with a lot of vegetables, which makes it closer to the French cuisine. The consumption of fruits, vegetables, milk and dairy products are the requirements of healthy eating, which puts Bosnian cuisine into the desirable category when taking into the consideration their healthy aspects. During the festive period traditional meals are served, which are attractive because they have a different number of main courses that are fast changing at the dinner table. The aim of this work is to research the tradition and traditional food and how it influenced today's cuisine of the Bosnian Krajina.
2. Methods
The research of traditional ways of life in the past in the villages and towns of Bosnian Krajina (Una Sana Canton -USC) was done in 2010 in the five largest towns of USC (Bihac, Cazin, Sanski Most, Velika Kladusa and Bosanska Krupa) respectively. Data for this study was obtained from a consumer questionnaire, in direct contact with older people, of which the youngest was 70, and the oldest 94 years. The sample of subjects was predominantly female (67%). The survey was prepared by the authors and included three groups of questions. The first group was related to the way of life, way of obtaining food, diet, food market, the second group was focused on identification of meals that were consumed at the traditional time and the way of preparation, while the third group of question defined the information's about the custom and meals during special occasions (celebrations).
The second part of the research was designed with objectives to determine the representations of meals identified by the survey as traditional, in the cuisine of USC. Using the reference of Ruzic and Dropulic (2009), the data was collected by reviewing the menus of the 30 most visited catering establishments cross the five cities. It was determined, through conversation with the kitchen staff, what the number and kind of traditional meals on offer were and how they were prepared was described. Also, the hospitality, the appearance of objects and ambience were evaluated.
3. Results and Discussion
Different nations, traditions and cultures have left their mark on Bosnia and Herzegovina s heritage amongst which the most influential were from the period of the Ottoman Empire due to the conversion of the local population to Islam and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is noticeable, also in the Bosnian language.
Bosnian culture in the past has been mainly portrayed by poverty, hunger and various illnesses attributed to malnutrition often as a consequence of the many long wars. However, different nutritious and tasty meals have been prepared by the Bosnian wives called "maja".
3.1. The traditions in the local population eating habits
The traditional family is expanded by marriage where the females leave their parents home and join the husband's family. The land is owned by all members of the family and the duties and responsibilities are divided in accordance to the gender and age. The family elder, father or grandfather, would usually be the "head" of the family. The fact that the mother did not have any other responsibilities, such as to work in the fields, allowed her to run the
household successfully. The female members of the family were not sent to school and very rarely the men were educated. The population's main livelihood was agriculture and skilled labour. The family would usually grow crops and various animals on their lands as well as producing the vegetables needed for the households use. The family would make their own flour as well as grow potatoes and cabbage. From the farm animals they would have milk and dairy products as well as honey, jam, and cold drinks made from various fruits "hosef"', tea from lime and elder. The farmers would also get meat, which would be consumed or produced into pastrami (dried beef or lamb). The family would also produce butter, "trahana", which is type of soup as well as "omac", i.e. the pasta. The farmers also grow and kept for winter the onion, garlic, sugar beet, which they would consume as a sweetener. The ingredients were not traded as in today's markets. The only ingredients bought by the households were the oil, the coffee beans (bought a number of grains), salt, sugar, lemon, raspberry juice, rise and baking soda.
The preparation of meals was an important aspect of traditional households and like today it was prepared with a certain amount of enjoyment. The majority of culinary specialties have to be slow cooked "simmered". The food is prepared on an open fire "odsak" and later on the cookers called a "goat". Every house had special dishes of metal called "sace" and the meal was baked in the coals. Over the fire there was an iron plate for baking bread ("pekva"). The family would then gather round the open firs and a small serving table called a "sofra" would be used.
3.2. Number and variety of meals
The type of meals prepared was mainly dependant on the season, place of living, status and work activities. There were three main meals out of which breakfast and lunch were the important meals of the day whereas the leftovers from lunch were served for dinner. In the villages, during the summer times, breakfast was served around 5 am (Table 1), and in the winter there was no breakfast at all. The most frequent meal was a bean dish. The bread for breakfast was mainly maid of corn flour and tea whereas the bread for lunch was made of wheat or "somun". The boiled vegetables i.e. potatoes and cabbage, with meat which was also a frequent dish consumed by the population, which was significant for a population living in poverty. Frequent meals, which are still represented in Bosnian cuisine, were different kinds of pies mainly made with potatoes, cabbage and cheese.
Table 1. The most common food of the traditional time
The time and number of serving and type of food
Breakfast Snack Lunch Snack Dinner
5:00 AM 9:00 AM 1:00 PM 5:00 PM 5:00 PM
Cooked beans Wheat bred Cooked beans The rest of the Cooked beans
Corn bread with milk or Pie Stewed cabbage with meat Wheat bred The rest of the lunch
cheese (Kalja)
Wheat bred Coffee Soup (Trahana) Milk cream Backed pies
Potato soup Corn bread Backed pies Buttermilk
Cooked corn bread with Stewed vegetables with Onion
cheese meat (Jahnija)
Amongst the families that have been living in the towns and tradesman families, the first meal of the day was usually served around 9am and was called "usina", not breakfast, while in the villages the 'uzina' was prepared for all the workforce in the fields. However, during the winter this would be the first meals of the day in the villages as well. In the towns and tradesman families coffee would be consumed for breakfast as well as different kind of breads, cheeses or jams. The second snack was served between lunch and dinner, which was the leftovers from lunch. The salads were mainly made of pickled cabbage and were consumed with each meal while in the summer it was spring onion and onion. The children were mainly breastfeed and as they grew older they were given mainly sweetened milk and flour as well as "trahana" or "corba".
The traditional meals that are kept even today are the bean meal, jahnija, kalja and trahana. The beans are cooked by adding salt, onion and garlic as well as meat, i.e. pastrami, or it could be prepared without any meat as well. The pastrami is made of dried beef or lamb, by coating it with spices and then the meat is smoked usually in the attics of the house for several months.
In the past, the meat was cooked with beans only in the wealthier families or during the festive season. The other traditional meal that has its place in today's cuisine is "jahnija". It is a traditional meal made of meat and vegetables with a dominating flavour of garlic, onions and black pepper. However, the characteristics of Bosnian cuisine are that it does not use a lot of spices. The meals are prepared in the traditional stoneware pots on the slow heat for 4-6 hours. Kalja is a type of meal simmered on a slow heat and made of cabbage and mead or often also made from pastrami. Trahana is a kind of domestic soup made from wheat flour (small bells made form hard dough) with mixed vegetables and spice.
The most significant place in the traditional cuisine is the pies. They can be sweat or sour and are served during the more elaborate meals. This has been noticed by Karlo Walter, the Professor of the Hotelier school in Opatija by saying that the pie in Bosnia is the same as pizza Napolitano for Italians (Lakisic, 1999). The pies are prepared from the wheat dough into a thin pastry that is then dried on the air or above the cocker. In the past the most represented pies were made of cabbage, potatoes, cheese. For example, the potato pie is prepared by dicing the potatoes and adding salt and garlic. The stuffing is then spread over the pastry and rolled. At the end, the pies are glazed with butter and backed in the over for 30-60 minutes. When they are completely baked the pies are often covered by sour cream. The pies are served warm, on their own or with yoghurt and sour cream.
3.3. The foods during the festive season
During the festive season, the meal preparations are the main focus. Since the majority of the local population in the area of Bosnian Krajina are predominantly of the Islamic religion (95%) the festive seasons are linked to the religious holidays (Ramadan and Aid), which are still celebrated. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast every day from dawn to sunset. The whole month they consume only two meals, the first is called ''sehur'' before dawn. Those meals are usually light meals prepared the day before without salt or spices. The second meal ''iftar'' is served after sundown, this meal is notable for its variety into which a lot of effort is made. During Ramadan, it has been known, that traditionally the best and richest food is consumed.
After Ramadan there is the celebration of Aid. The characteristics of Aid is that the sweat deserts and coffee are served in the early morning. The traditions and the type of meals have been kept in today's society (baklava, hurmica, lutma, domestic halva, gurabija, brdari, sutlija). The traditional lunch is prepared days in advance and this preparation periodis significant for the whole family. It lasts for four days and during those days there are a lot of visits from family and friends, to whom the best meals would be served (burek, various pies, maslenica, "corba" with meat). Two months later, the Kurban Aid are celebrated, this lasts for three days and is typical for its rituals of lamb or cow sacrifice, depending on the family status. The meat is then divided equally and shared with family and friends. All three religious holidays have been kept unchanged to date.
In the past, the festive season had two more celebrations, which have been lost over time. The celebrations were in the time of the harvest or so called Komusaci i Sijela. Towards the end of the September, the owners of the fields would invite friends, family and neighbours to help during the harvest during which there were certain rituals that were followed. Usually the single men and women would be brought together in order to meet each other then after the harvests the celebration would usually last the entire evening. The Catholic population would have similar customs, so called ''Dani polja'' (days of the field), that have been preserved to date. During the festivities up to twenty meals would be prepared mainly made of wheat flour, meat and large quantities of cakes. The majority of the cake recipes have been preserved and are still used today (baklave, hurmasice, duzleme, brdari). The ceremony of serving the meals is itself significant and was carried out by young girls who would begin with the stews, baking and finally the deserts.
3.4. The representation of traditional meals in Bosnian Krajina gastronomy
Tourist offices from different countries have developed different attractions from their traditional cuisine confirming the thesis that traditional cuisine is an important part of tourist attractions. These attractions need to satisfy the objective needs of contemporary tourism by emphasizing their own objective differences as an advantage
compared to the other offerings, and by allowing their own distinctiveness to lean upon the subjective tastes of traditional cooking (Orlic, 2004). According to the strategic plans developed in B&H tourism is one of the most important sectors, especially rural and so called eco tourism. In such planning the gastronomic offerings should be one of the most attractive, but first it is necessary to look into what is on offer today. This was the second objective of the research in our work.
During the investigation of gastronomic offerings, the research was conducted in order to determine how many meals identified throughout the survey were traditional and are still kept in today's society and also to examine the menus in the 30 most popular restaurants in Bosanska Krajina. The results are given in table 2.
Table 2. Representation of traditional meals in gastronomic offer of Bosnian Krajina
Part of offer Traditional meal No./30 R
Cooked corn bread with cheese "pura" 7
Breakfast Wheat bred "somun" , corn bread ''kuruza'' 1
Pies 6
Appetizer Milk cream 10
Soup "Trahana" 16
Cooked beans 22
Lunch/Dinner Main meal Stewed cabbage with meat ''Kalja'' 2
Backed pies 10
Stewed vegetables ''Jahnija'' and different 21
Dessert "Baklava" 8
In each of the 30 restaurants there are some traditional meals offered to its customers. The most common meal is beans (22/30), different stewed vegetables 21/30) and trahana soup (16/30). It is important to add that all three meals are prepared in a traditional way, especially stewed vegetables which are cooked in stoneware pots and consists of two - three kind of meat and 5-6 different kind of vegetables, but in every dish so far, the main ingredient is onion and garlic. These meals are cooked for a minimu of four hours on a low heat. Corbe are served as a main course for breakfast and dinner whereas at lunch time it is offered as a starter. Domestic bread from wheat and corn are rarely offered, which is a major disadvantage, because they are prepared from the integral flour, but also from the nutritional aspect those products are desirable. Domestic bread could be very tasty with simple supplement such as buttermilk, cheese or jam. Different pies are not representative in gastronomic offerings (only in 10) due to the lack of space and skills. The common places where you can buy pies are specialized facilities so called ''pitara'' and there are many of them around the towns. It is a kind of fast food in the Bosnian region. Next to the cooked meals and pies the deserts are also significantly represented. In all restaurants there are 2-3 kinds of traditional sweets that are on offer and amongst the most represented is baklava, tufahija, hurmasica and sweet apple pie.
In all restaurants, the menu is mainly modernized and adjusted to meet the current needs of customers. For breakfast usually on the menu are eggs, omelette with cheese and salami, rolls with dairy products, jam and honey. For appetizer there is dried beef (pastrami), beef sausages (sudzuk), cheese selection, donuts, milk cream and salads. For the main menu different meat such as fried, backed, grill, steaks are offered with supplements of potato, rice and vegetables.
The most popular meals offered in the restaurants are barbequed meals, veal under the stoneware pots, cevapi, burgers and raznjici, which are not part of the traditional Bosnian cuisine. Almost every restaurant offers pizza although the chefs are lacking the skills. The deserts are mainly traditional cakes along with pancakes, fruit salads and ice cream.
The preparation of traditional meals remains the same as in the past. In the best restaurants you will find the open fire or grills in which you can observe the meal preparations but in more than 20 restaurants the decor is modern without the traditional motif. Therefore, we could conclude that Bosnian Krajina restaurants lack the offer of the traditional cuisine, the decor shows different influences of various cultures and the traditional motifs are nonexistent.
It is important to note, that through the 20th century, Bosnian cuisine has developed three meals that have been recognised as some of the most important gasttmomic attractions, which are Cevapi, Bosnian lonac (stew) and burek. None of these meals have been prepared and represented in the past so as such cannot be connected to the Bosnian Krajina tradition. Cevapi are a national speciality and probably the best Bosnian brand so far. Cevapi are
made of beef or lamb minced meat and are rolled into the small sausage like shapes and are seasoned with different spices. Bosnian lonac (stew) is prepared in the stoneware dish with different type of meat and vegetables, which is then simmered for 3-4 hours. It is served warm with cream. Burek is the meal with its roots from Persia and has been represented in the Bosnian cuisine since 1462. Burek was first made in the local Sarajevo restaurant (ascinica) but is not considered to be a pie although the way it is prepared is identical to pie making. Hence, it is often mistaken for a pie.
4. Conclusions
The traditional way of life in Bosnian Krajina was very simple in the villages poverty was most notable whereas in the towns the people have lived a more prosperous life. The foods are mainly prepared from the wheat, corn and vegetables such as beans, cabbage and onion. Very rarely the population would consume meat, which was just a sign of life circumstances. The population consumes five meals i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner and the two mid-meal snacks. The most represented meals in the daily cuisine were beans, corba (casserole), kalja (cabbage stew) and various pies and breads made of wheat or corn flour. In general the same ingredients have been used as in today's society but the way of cocking was much easier and simpler.
During the festive period, the meals were prepared with meat and were of a much better quality. The study found that traditional meals are not fully represented in Bosnian Krajina cuisine today. It also found that many of the restaurants have also lost their traditional motifs and design succumbing to the more modern tastes of various cultures.
Since tourism is a primary goal of many strategic development programmes of this area, and taking into the consideration the tourists' needs, certain changes should be considered in order to bring back the traditional cuisine and the original ambience of restaurant but at the same time still be able to offer the comfort of more modern hotels and restaurants.
The tourist board should offer different attractions, traditional restaurants (ascinice) so that visitors can oversee the meal preparation as in the past. These suggestions should be located in a rural setting as well as urban areas to develop the feeling of authenticity. These products should comply with the objective needs of modern tourism but also emphasize the differences of culture as well as the traditional culinary experience.
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