Ethno Food and Drink Show in Belgrade – Chili pepper preserve, cocoa pork crisps and raspberry mozzarella

Those who love quality food had the opportunity to taste authentic locally-made products from Serbia between November 21 and 24 at the Belgrade Fair. The visitors at the 13th Ethno Food and Drink Show were presented with well known specialties of the Serbian cuisine, as well as new delicacies.

Local charcuterie, jams, winter preserves, rakija, cheeses, cakes and other sweet and savory food products were available for tasting and purchase on spot. The producers proudly emphasized that all the products were locally made from traditional recipes.

– We are a craft business and we produce small quantities of these products of high quality. We operate the entire process – from farm to table. We have our own farm with several hundred pigs and we make the final product. These are preserved meat products made from old recipes, namely, sausages of Sremska and Njeguska brands, bacon, kulen and smoked salamis – says Vera Mihajlovic of Mesoprodukt Ruma.

For those who don’t mind hot food, a spicy domestic sausage was available, as well as something more exotic – a chili pepper preserve, whose initially sweet flavor can trick the less cautious eaters.

Mushroom aficionados were presented with Desamp, a specialty made from portobello and oyster mushrooms from a special recipe, which involves cooking in white wine, oil and spices, and eschews additives and preservatives.

– This is a handmade product. The mushrooms are grown at the Stevic family farm near Pozarevac, a tradition of 37 years. In late 2017, we patented Desamp and started presenting it at specialized food show. Our products are also available at health food and delicacy stores – Mirjana Stevic says.

The stand of the Kosanovic meat packing company from the Sremska Mitrovica area featured Mediterranean pork tenderloin, almond sausage, but also something we hadn’t had the opportunity to see before – cocoa pork crisps. They say that they’ve experimented a lot in order to get the right combination of cocoa, marjoram, cinnamon and garlic. The product is especially popular among female consumers and is meant to be consumed in small quantities.

Products with a protected designation of origin were available at the stand of the “Original Serbia” Producers Association, which brings together nine producers. At the show, they presented cabbage from Futog, carrot from Begec, garlic from Vrbice, linden honey from Fruska Gora, kulen from Srem and Petrovac, ajvar from Leskovac, honey from Djerdap and Kacer and cheese from Zlatar.

We also tried the inevitable and very well known Pirot pressed sausage, which we tasted at the stand of the Chamber of Commerce of Pirot.

– This is certainly one of the best meat products Serbia can offer. We make two kinds, one from goat, lamb and beef, using a traditional recipe, and the other from beef and the meat of semi-wild horses. We have been showcasing our products at this show for seven or eight years, we have our regular customers, and since Belgrade accounts for 90% of our sales, we made all our contacts here – says Dalibor Tosic from Pirot.

Those who like unusual flavor combinations should definitely try the cheeses made by Ljilja Janjic from Gornja Bukovica. In addition to traditional dairy products, Ljilja also makes fruit cheeses – mozzarella with sour cherries, raspberries, prunes, figs, walnuts... As she says, the cheeses she makes are her innovations and she has received numerous awards and recognitions for them.

Natalija Okicic from Prokuplje started with boiled peppers, her specialty, and now there are over 20 sweet and savory winter preserves. She does everything herself and doesn’t want to expand the production, as she wants to keep the quality she is recognized for by numerous customers.

The Radisic farm from Curug has been producing cheese for nearly a century. We were drawn to a pungent semi-hard cheese, but also by rolled cheeses with spices such as oregano and basil, chives, chili pepper and sesame.

You’re going to want to wash down all these specialties, and that‘s where rakija comes in handy. The show has confirmed that the best rakija is made in Serbia. However, this time, we chose craft beer from Sombor. The Ravangrad brewery offers two brands – Ravangrad and Penal Ipa. The beer is made from natural ingredients, without the addition of corn and various chemicals. It is not filtered or pasteurized, which gives it a special, recognizable flavor.

D. Obradovic

Beogradski sajam doo Beograd

Privredna komora Pirotskog okruga

Mesoprodukt Ruma

Udruženje ORIGINAL SRBIJA

Ethno Food and Drink Show

Radisic farm Curug

Ravangrad brewery Sombor

Natalija Okicic

Dalibor Tosic

Kosanovic meat packing plant Martinci

Stevic farm Pozarevac

Mirjana Stevic

Vera Mihajlovic

Ljilja Janjic