…something I’ve had my fill of now. There’s only so much meat and bread one can shove into their digestive system without feeling very seedy indeed. I’ve discovered that the Balkan diet is essentially a system for delivering large quantities of grilled meat and carbohydrates onto a plate. As a matter or principal I rarely photograph my meals but I’ve included a couple of photos here to highlight nature of Balkan cuisine.

The most popular dish is something called Çevapi (chuh-vappi) which consists of fingers of grilled meat posted into a an enormous slab of greasy, oily bread. Everything very salty. It comes with a side of raw chopped onions and, if you’re lucky, a ‘salad’ which tends to consist of a minuscule leaf of lettuce atop which sits a small cherry tomato halved for decoration. No sauce. I have to say that this can be very tasty when done well or like eating eating salted cardboard at its worst and regardless unfortunately looks a like a literal shit sandwich. After a few days this kind of food weighs heavy on your soul, and you find yourself craving vegetables (something unusual for me). Ive been living with it for over a week now.

Çevapi

I may being unfair, and there are variations on the theme. Unfortunately, for reasons previously stated I have little photographic evidence but some descriptions may have to suffice. I recently had a Çevapi-esque dish that in the picture (photographic menus never indicate great quality) looked like a burger and chips. It arrived on a huge silver platter with a plate as well, mostly I think because the ‘burger’ itself was too large to fit on a conventional plate. The burger was parked on top of what can only be described as a loaf with a substantial portion of French fries. The half cherry tomato garnish again (as previously described) and some intensely salty sour cream was provided in addition. I did check and it was intended as single portion and so I accepted the challenge of eating this dinosauric platter of food. It did actually taste good but alas I was defeated.

One evening, with the aforementioned vegetable craving kicking in I ordered a stuffed vegetables dish called ‘Dolma’ thinking this might provide the vitamin fix that I was after. Turns out not. It was stuffed peppers, but stuffed with minced meat, again an epic portion. Having avoided the heavy bread for a change I was delivered my carbohydrates in the form of mashed potatoes with delicious yet rich gravy. Did make me chuckle that even the vegetables come stuffed with meat.

Dolma

Another favourite was Burek. Very tasty but also equally heavy. A baked soft dough with salty cheese mixed in and further gratinated with a layer of cheese on top. In many ways my ideal meal. It came sizzling and bubbling fresh from the oven:

Whilst often very tasty I am ready to leave the Balkan diet behind me.