Meal 76. Serbian Slavski Kolač, Sarma and Gibanica for Slava (Patron Saint's Day Feast)

The four constants of a Slava: bead, žito, wine and a candle

Though tonight is the very first time I meet Ivana in person, we have seen and talked to each other online dozens of times, as we both followed German classes during my first months in Berlin. We are both quite proud and relieved that we did manage to pass the so-called C1 German exam in our first attempt. For Ivana, it means one step closer to working as a maths teacher in a school, like she did back home in Serbia. At the moment, she mainly focuses on private tutoring. 

I am very lucky to have been invited to a truly special meal this evening. Before the invite, I had no idea about Slavas, a uniquely Serbian tradition. Every family has a patron saint. On this saint's day, a specific meal with traditionally prescribed elements is prepared, and during the Slava, family and friends can come by without invitation to partake of the copious amounts of food that have been prepared in advance. In this case, Ivana has indeed been up till very late the previous day (3am!) to get everything ready for her family's saint, the female St. Petka. After arriving and having a "Turkish coffee," Ivana shows me the elements of the Slava that are the same, whatever saint your family's patron saint might be. They are a specific bread, red wine, a candle, and žito (wheat pudding with walnuts). The 'festive bread', Slavski Kolač, is a thing of beauty. Round, with a decorative braided crust and a brioche like texture. It is made with white flour, milk, eggs, and butter. It is also served on Three Kings when the tradition is to stick a coin inside (the person who gets the piece with the coin is the lucky one!) and the top of the loaf then has specific decorations of the cross, leaves and flowers. Though each Slava has the four classic elements, the other food served is different. For instance, families celebrating St. Nicholas prepare dishes that are either vegan or contain fish ('fasting' recipes). 

Slava bread (Slavski Kolač) with beautiful braided cross decoration

Interesting to me is that for Ivana, and for many others of her generation, the tradition of the Slava is both very old (going back to the 9th century), and new, as during Communism a lot of the Christian celebrations were put on hold to some extent. You could call it an 'interrupted tradition' on a national level, though now it is protected by Unesco as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Predrag, Ivana's husband, cutting the ceremonal cross in the bottom of the bread

 Normally the specific patron saint (determining the date the family's Slava is celebrated) is inherited from father to son. A married woman would take over her husband's saint. Ivana's case is a bit of a variation, as she did not grow up with her father celebrating his patron saint (he would normally go celebrate with his brother). She did participate when her (maternal) grandfather hosted St. Petka. As an adult, Ivana decided to celebrate her Slava again. By now she has inspired her mother to do the same. I like how she gives the old traditions her own twist. She also makes the Serbian bread regularly in Berlin, with all the typical ingredients, but using her modern bread machine to save time.

 

The Sarma, cabbage rolls filled with ground meat and rice

Though Ivana seems to have prepared enough food for a few families ahead of time, she has saved one dish to make while I am there, the 'filo pie', called gibanica. Not coincidentally, this is quite similar to the delicious potato and filo based krompiruša I had for my Bosnian meal. In this Serbian version, the filo is brushed with a mixture of cottage cheese, eggs and oil, which is repeated layer after layer. Ivana herself used store-bought filo, which I would recommend for all but the most ambitious home cook. However, both her mother and grandmother, as well as her husband Predrag's grandmother would make the filo dough themselves, which takes skill, time and a big table!

The gibanica aka 'filo pie'

The dinner consists of many different courses. First we have a platter with meats and cheeses and dips, including ajvar, made with bell pepper and eggplants. The festive bread is ceremiously cut in a cross shape and some red wine poured over the cross. Then we have sarma, stuffed cabbage rolls, which remind me of the gołabki I had with a Polish family. I am already stuffed myself by the time the main course arrives! I try to take only small portions of the roasted pork, turkey and potatoes.

Roasted turkey and pork with potatoes, and a fresh side salad

Over the hours it takes to get through the many dishes, we have discussed all kinds of topics, including how Ivana and her husband got together as students, their time in Belgrade and London, Serbian churches not having any seats, the unconvential artist called Rambo Amadeus, and the history of the country going back to Ottoman times. We do also touch on the most painful event in recent decades, and Ivana is willing to share her memories of that time. In 1992, her uncle and aunt lived in a muslim city in Bosnia. They initially did not want to leave, as they were caring for an elderly relative who was too old to move. They did send their two young daughters to safety with a neighbour, who brought them to Ivana's family apartment, which only measured 54 square meters. For about three years, this meant the four kids of the household slept in one bed. During the first years of the war her cousins had no contact with their parents at all, as the phone lines were cut. Finally, Ivana’s mother managed to contact the parents by amateur radio, and in 1995 they also came over, meaning now eight people lived in the same small apartment! 

 

 

Ivana and Predrag are keen not to hold on to sectarian divisions, and mention friendships in Berlin and London with Croatians and a Serbian Muslim family. Though they do miss their country, it would not make sense to go back from a financial perspective. As well, their teenage daughter is fluent in German by now and doing very well in school here in Berlin.

 

For dessert, Ivana apologizes that she is only serving one dish. In a full Slava catering to large amounts of guests, the hostess would normally present a platter with lots of different petits-fours. I am already very impressed that she made the filled wafers (oblatne) herself. She blended together walnuts with powdered sugar and biscuits, then stacked about six of the thin wafers on top of each other with the sweet paste spread in between the layers. They are cut into diamond shapes, which are arranged to produce pretty little stars.

I feel incredibly grateful to have been able to celebrate such a traditional festive event here in Berlin, and to have been able to get to know Ivana's warm personality so much better in person now. Before heading out, I am handed a full bag with sarma, žito, gibanica and oblatne to go home with. Basically, I have enough food for four more meals! I enjoy the savoury treats fo the next two days, though I do share the oblatne with my colleagues, to help spread the joy of Serbian food. 

The oblatne, wafers filled with a sweet walnut paste

Meal 75. Slovakian bryndzové halušky (potato dumplings with cheese and bacon)

Blending the potatoes

Oliver, my host for this meal, has apparently forgiven me for saying 'Slovenian' instead of 'Slovakian' on more than one occasion. At this point, it has become embarrassing enough that I always take a millisecond to reflect before saying the word. Though I know they are two different countries, and I have very good memories of the Slovenian meal for this blog, somehow my brain does not always co-operate. To confuse matters further, I saw a cousin's post about a holiday in Slovakia which describes a visit to 'Slovenský Raj', a national park. This translates as 'Slovak paradise'...(if it had been Slovenian, it would have been Slovinský Raj). It does seem I am not the only one to make this mistake, and by now I am aware enough to avoid making it, unless I do it specifically to tease Oliver.

He is actually Slovak with Hungarian roots on his father's side, who is an 'ethnic Hungarian' from the southern part of Slovakia, near Hungary, where the majority speaks Hungarian. The border was to some extent fluid over the last century, with language and citizenship now still somewhat contentious topics. 

The famous protected geographical indication Bryndza sheep's cheese

I have been more of a witness to the preparation for this meal than normal, with a special trip to a shop in the Hague that sells Slovak products, including the Bryndza, a fresh sheep's cheese, and two local soft drinks, Kofola and Vinea. The taste profile of Kofola lies somewhere between cola and a malt drink, and is apparently served on tap in bars as an alternative to beer. Vinea is like a non-alcoholic sweet champagne, fizzy grape juice basically. Oliver jokes they are used to train children to drink beer and wine! Both are immediately pleasing for the unaccustomed palate. One Dutch exchange student was so enamored by Kofola, Oliver recalls fondly, that he bought six 2L bottles of the drink to take back with him to Holland.

Mixing potatoes with flour

For the preparation of the main dish, Oliver is channeling his grandmother's talents. A kilo of potatoes are peeled and boiled, then mixed with salt, flour and egg (optional). The halušky are then formed by spreading this thick batter onto a cutting board, and cutting strips off which drop directly into boiling water. Alternatively, the dumplings can be formed with a special perforated cooking strainer (haluškár) where the batter is pushed through smallish holes in the haluškár. To me, with a limited reference frame, this is reminiscent of both gnocchi (made with potato dough) and Swiss knöpfli/German spätzle, made with a flour dough but a similar preparation (cutting board or perforated tool). The Austrian meal for this blog featured a vaguely similar (though sweet) dish with potato dough dumplings (Mohnnudeln) too. The ingredient that elevates tonight's potato dumplings to a Slovak national dish is the Bryndza sheep's cheese, which is now an EU 'protected geographical indication' product (like feta cheese, or more famously: champagne). The cheese and smoky bacon bits (specially imported bacon, from special pigs!) add a savoury depth to the hearty dish, which is very moreish. Oliver describes it as the perfect food after a day of heavy physical work on the farm. Similar to other dumplings, it is more filling than you would think based on eyeballing the amount of food on your plate!

 As we digest the food, we discuss Slovakia's past. Oliver, having lived and studied in Prague, feels the separation from the Czech republic (the so-called Velvet Divorce in 1993), was "a bit of a shame," and mainly motivated on a parliamentary level. Only a minority of both Czechs and Slovaks was actually in favour of the split! 

We also touch on how things were under Communism. Oliver belongs to a younger generation that has not experienced this era first-hand. But tales of the many idiosyncrasies of the former regime are well-known to everyone from the region. For example, even though ownership of foreign currency was tightly regulated, there was a flourishing illegal money-exchange market – and Oliver’s great-grandfather was lucky enough to have old friends in Austria who would send schillings by post, camouflaged in 'origami cards' to avoid detection.

The boiled and drained halušky before the cheese and bacon is added

Some fled the country to pursue a better life, most commonly in Austra, Switzerland or Canada. As it was easier to get permission to leave on a holiday to another communist country, some planned a 'visit to Cuba,' only to disembark during the refuelling stop in Canada. Oliver's mother had a dentist who followed exactly this pattern, telling his patients he would be off on a holiday, never to return! 

Once the heavy meal has had a chance to settle a bit, we munch on a light dessert of thin Kolonáda wafers with a hazelnut filling (actually officially Czech). These were apparently traditionally served at spa resorts like Karlsbad as only "light desserts" were permitted, and the packaging reflects this history. Can definitely recommend...this in contrast to another sweet from the Slovak shop, the Margot bar which is supposed to taste of coconut and rum, but left me personally with a distinct impression of nail polish remover!

The final result, the halušky with the bryndza cheese and bacon bits added

Meal 74. Korean tteokbokki and fritters

Checking the tteokbokki

 When I first met Su (short for Sujin) I got quite excited, as I had just spent many hours watching a YouTube channel mainly about Korean food and culture. She knows exactly who I am referring to, the "Korean Englishman," who is by now a bit of a celebrity in Korea. There are some very enjoyable videos of British schoolboys trying Korean food for the first time, but Su and I both agree it is somewhat odd to have a whole channel about Korean culture hosted by an Englishman. Both part of the appeal, and a bit problematic! Luckily, Su herself likes the idea of this blog, and is willing to be the 'actual Korean' introducing me to Korean food in real life. Somehow, I have managed to never have a proper Korean meal...only some fastfood 'angry chicken' in Berlin, and dinner at a 'Korean barbecue' restaurant in Sierra Leone, which turned out to be run by a Chinese lady.

The ricecakes for the tteokbokki soaking in warm water

Tonight I am getting the chance to try tteokbokki, a kind of rice cakes which are soaked in water before preparation, which gives them a chewy, glutinous texture. While the cakes soak, Su prepares the vegetables for a kind of patties made with grated vegetables in a crunchy batter. Somewhat reminiscent of Japanese tempura batter, the 'Korean crispy frying mix' had sparkling water added to it to make it extra crispy.

Su preparing the vegetables for the fritters

 Su grates up a storm, adding carrot, sweet potato, zucchini and eggplant. It seems to be much more than we can finish with the three of us, as Su's friend and flatmate is joining us. They normally chat in German, as Su has been in the country long enough, for five years already, and is used to speaking German with her colleagues as well. She works at the opera, in the backstage area ("event technology") which is mainly dominated by older German males. As a young Korean woman, she is definitely an outlier! 

The fishcakes on top of the ricecakes with gochujang spicy sauce

We chat a bit about the cultural 'moment' Korea is having in the West, with movies winning Oscars (Parasite and Minari), tv-series in the top 10 most watched on Netflix, K-Pop bands like BTS and BlackPink incredibly popular. Even K-Beauty is part of this 'Korean Wave', with lots of American and European fans of Korean skincare brands now. I eye Su's beautiful clear complexion, and compliment her, asking if she also has an elaborate morning routine. "Nope, just the drugstore's own brand facecream!" (dm, for the German readers).

Placing the grated vegetables with crispy frying mix in the hot oil

I also admire her tattoos, which he had done in Berlin, by a Korean friend who studies fine art. They are still a bit taboo in Korea, and officially tattoo artists need a medical license, though by now they are quite common amongst the younger generation. After a long (corona related) absence, Su returned back home and her mother quickly remarked:"Oh, a tattoo!" Su managed to deflect the attention by mentioning that she got it from her friend for a remarkably low price, and surprisingly her mother just reacted with, "Oh...that's cool!" It sounds like she has very open minded and supportive parents, who were also quick to accept her changing from theatre studies (just before finishing) to studying at the opera in Germany).

Vegetable fritter - golden crisy perfection

Once the vegetable fritters are done, they have to be eaten quite quickly to appreciate the super crispy consistency. I am quite a fan of deep fried food, and these are exquisite. The tteokbokki aftewards has a completely different texture, very chewy and a bit slippery, a challenge for me to handle with chopsticks! They are served with boiled eggs, and a gochujang sauce made with fishcakes, spicy, but still quite accessible to me as a Korean food novice. I ask Su what she missed most when she could not go back for almost two years, and she mentions she ended up dreaming about cheese balls. She would literally be asleep, dreaming that she was in Korea and ready to order them, but would then somehow encounter problems during the ordering process, and then wake up disappointed, without cheese balls. A very Korean ex-pat nightmare...You can imagine what Su's priority when she finally did get back this summer!

Tteokbokki - chewy ricebakes with spicy gochujang sauce including fishcakes and boiled egg

Meal 73. Congolese (DRC) grilled mackerel, fufu, cassava leaf sauce and 'chicken mayonnaise'

Christelle with the mackerel

Christelle and I have an unusual back story. We are both wildlife vets and to a certain extent, she is my 'career twin'...she has worked with bonobos in the wild, in a sanctuary and in a reintroduction project. The same goes for me, except with chimpanzees. In addition, we are both doing our PhD in Berlin at the moment, working with samples collected in the field. I really only got to know her this year, but after a bit of chatting, it turned out we spent a whole week at the same primate health conference in Cameroon, now eight years ago. Christelle even dug up a group picture from then with both of us. Oddly, we have zero recollection of seeing each other then, even though we both gave presentations during that week. Slightly disconcerting!

Over the last few months, I have shared many meals with Christelle and heard stories about her life in Lubumbashi (near the border with Zambia), Kinshasa and with the bonobos. Foodwise, I was very surprised to hear that Christelle grew up eating quite a bit of Greek food! Her mother became friends with a Greek restaurant owner in Lubumbashi, loved the food and learned to recreate the recipes from him. Another story involved a neighbour in a street near Christelle's house. He was an old man known around the area for eating dogs (not very common there), and Christelle recounts that whenever he passed, the dogs would bark at him more than at anybody else, as if they knew he was to be feared.

Today, Christelle is offering up a typical Congolese meal for me, three German friends, as well as Oby, a colleague from Côte d'Ivoire, and Tanguy from Gabon (who cooked meal 72. for this blog). She has stuffed and coated four huge mackerel with a paste of parsley, garlic, green onion and salt and placed them on the barbecue in the garden. The fish are scored along both sides to facilitate the cooking. 

As we are waiting for the hot coals to do their work, our German colleague Werner confides one of his weirdest food habits. Growing up, he liked eating fishsticks with chocolate. I am not tempted to try myself, and very surprised to find at least one other person online who does have the same preference. Christelle has a more innocuous habit of eating ice cubes as a snack, and licking salt from her hand for the taste. Also slightly odd, but I do actually know a few more people who do the same.

Fufu (from maize and cassava meal)

As a side dish, Christelle has prepared fufu, a starchy ball made with maize and cassava meal. I have tried pure cassava fufu before (as pounded yam as part of the Nigerian meal for this blog) and was not that convinced by the consistency. However, Christelle's version is a lot softer and with a pleasing, slightly grainy texture. Great with the cassava leaf sauce à la Congolaise. The way Christelle has prepared it, with peanut powder, gives it a very difference taste to the cassava leaf sauce I have eaten, more than 100 times, in Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire. Tanguy and Oby agree it is not comparable to their versions either. A real discovery! None of us have heard of the poulet mayo either, which has become famous in recent years. The chicken is baked/grilled first, then mixed with mayonnaise and in this case some bell pepper, and placed back in the oven or on the grill one more time. I do not think I am very familiar with mayonnaise in baked dishes, but the end result is very pleasing. Christelle says it is specifically popular as a bar snack to be eaten while drinking cold beer; there is even a catchy song with the dish as its title!

Though DRC is not that well known as a tourist destination, I do know friends who have had a very good time in Kinshasa while there for work. The nightlife is legendary, with music from international stars like Koffi Olomide, Fally Ipupa and the late Papa Wemba. The latter also popularised the "La Sape" movement, a flamboyant fashion style featuring tailored suits, dating back to the 1920s but still popular now. Brightly attired sapeurs feature in quite a few photo books, documentaries and music videos. To be fair, some of these focus on Brazzaville, the capital of Congo Brazzaville (or 'Republic of Congo'), separated from Kinshasa by just a river (also called the Congo), but with many cultural similarities. 

Grilled mackerel, cassava leaf sauce, fufu, 'poulet mayo' and rice.

Meal 72. Gabonese buffet with cassava, plantain, fish, chicken and atanga fruit

Tanguy with the roast chicken

 As my own name alliterates, I immediately spotted Tanguy Tanga as a great name. Tanguy (pronounced the French way; Tahn-ghee) is a colleague from Gabon, a biologist who has worked following chimps and gorillas in the forest, and is now getting familiar with laboratory techniques in Berlin. He is very positive and normally up for doing fun stuff, so it was not too difficult to convince him to host a Gabonese meal. The original guest list was for four, but in a typical move, it has expanded to about ten after Tanguy was invited over to friends the day before and he invited them to join as well. Thankfully, he had basically done shopping and prepared enough food for about ten people anyway. So when I arrive, there is an impressive display of dishes on the kitchen table, and more in the oven. In total, I count ten different dishes, hence my decision to call this meal a buffet, rather than focus on a specific dish in the title.

All the dishes for the buffet prepped and ready to go

As I have lived in West Africa for a total of four years (in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast), I do recognize a lot of the staples served (despite Gabon being a Central African country). There is boiled cassava root, boiled green plantain, fried ripe plantain, cassava leaf sauce with salted fish, aubergine sauce, fried fish, roasted chicken, french fries and a home-made cake for dessert. The main surprise is the atanga fruit. I initially mistake them for boiled dark skinned potatoes, thinking they look almost identical. Tanguy's German friend Til feels they look exactly like kidneys!

The atanga fruits; look like potatoes!

When you bite into them, you quickly encounter a big stone, so clearly it is neither a potato or a kidney. It is hard to describe the texture, a bit like an avocado, and the taste is quite tart and savoury. As a biologist, Tanguy can tell me the Latin name, Dacryodes edulis. Apparently the English name is African pear, though I've never heard of it! In Nigeria, this fruit is historically one of the primary food items that villages survive on during the “hungry season,” (the time in between harvests and plantings). I am amazed that Tanguy managed to find it for sale in Berlin. There are quite a few shops I have visited that have African food items for sale, but their selection of fruits and vegetables are normally a bit limited. The cassava leaf used in the sauce can be found relatively easily though, prechopped in frozen sachets. It is truly a staple in West and Central African cuisine, but it is a known issue that it is hard to accurately determine the salt level while it is cooking...it is quite easy to oversalt it. When this happens, people will joke that the cook must have been in love (and thus distracted) while seasoning the sauce!

Boiled cassava to left, plantain to right

Tanguy did learn to cook for himself back in Gabon, as he was away from his parents when he was sent to continue his education at a lycée (secondary school). He continued to profit from these skills at university, and would enjoy cooking for friends.

I am lucky to have snagged a host from Gabon, as it is quite a tiny country, with just over two million inhabitants. I had mainly heard of it because of its beautiful forests and national parks. It is one of the richest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, partially due to having lots of oil, and mangenese. However, the benefits of these resources are not spread evenly, so you will still have quite a few poor people as well as some who are very well off. Tanguy specifically highlights that things are relatively expensive in Gabon, so even for people who earn a reasonable salary as a government functionary, it can be hard to afford things.

Crisp fried fish

He was able to compare this when he went to Cameroon, where they have the same currency (the Central African CFA franc). Still, most families in his city (Moanda, known for its manganese mines) will have a tv with Canal+ and a freezer or fridge. That is for instance a higher standard of living than I have seen in Ivory Coast or Sierra Leone. The so-called HDI (Human Development Index), is also one of the highest. On the other hand, some of the stories Tanguy tells me do sound familiar, such as it being difficult to get a job as a government functionary without paying a significant contribution first to someone higher up in the organisation.

Explaining the components to friend from Brasil

Of all the dishes, the aubergine sauce is the most praised by the guests (a varied bunch from Germany, Switzerland, Brazil and Burkina Faso). This sauce has a lovely silky consistency and a rich flavour. It is made with the smaller, rounder whitish aubergines rather than the well known dark purple elongated ones. Very good on rice too. After all the guests are stuffed, we end up watching some video clips from Gabonese musicians, including the internationally known Shan'L (pronounced Chanel) and Patience Dabany. The latter is more of classic artist, and was also the wife of Gabon's second president Omar Bongo, who holds a record as longest ruling leader (1967-2009). Not altogether surprisingly, Gabon's third president, Ali Bongo, is one of his ("30+") children, son of the the aforementioned Patience Dabany. More surprisingly, Ali Bongo is one of the few presidents who has put out a funk album (in 1977). It's not bad actually, very funky. Though Tanguy prefers Lord Ekomy Ndong, a socially conscious artist who has been critical of the highly contested elections in Gabon. 

We finish the meal with the tasty marble cake that Tanguy baked. He admits that it is not actually a Gabonese dish, he just wanted to make a nice dessert and found the recipe online. We are seriously impressed when it turns out to be the very first cake he has ever baked!

Dish with atanga, manioc, plantain, aubergine and cassava leaf sauces, chicken, fish and french fries!

Meal 71. Filipino lumpia and chicken adobo

Stirring the veg for the lumpia

I had recently been seeing a lot of Filipino recipes featured online by one of my favourite YouTubers Beryl, who cooks around the world with recipes she gets from followers around the world...a bit like my blog! It sounded like a very varied cuisine, with some familiar elements I recognise from Indonesian, American and Spanish food. So I felt very lucky to be contacted by Jo, who has been living and studying in Berlin for a few years and was enthusiastic about the idea of this blog. She is also a social entrepeneur and an artist who has set up up an NGO called SendToGive, inspired by the Filipino value of bayanihan (community spirit).

She greets me with a beautiful smile and has the ingredients for the starter prepped so I am able to see how they are prepared. For the main meal, chicken adobo, the chicken legs needed to be marinated in advance (in a mix of soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, garlic, bay leaves and black pepper kernels). So I can just enjoy the smell as this is bubbling away on the stove. Jo confides that she did ask for backup guidance from back home, to get inside tips about preparation.

Folded lumpias before frying

For the starter, we are having spring rolls, called lumpias. I recognise the name as in my childhood in Holland it was easy to find Vietnamese spring rolls for sale in food trucks selling lumpias (spelled loempias). I had no idea they were also popular in the Philippines - apparently also influenced by Chinese dishes and ingredients! However, it was tricky to find the proper lumpia ricepaper in Berlin. The one we used looked alright. After wetting down the paper to get it to soften, we filled it with the finely chopped vegetables, and folded it into rolls. They looked perfect frying in hot oil, but somehow decided to fuse with the paper towel (meant to soak up excess oil) on the plate...once removed, still very delicious. Served with a bit of homemade sweet-sour dipping sauce.

Frying up the lumpias

We chat about how one of the most important generators of income for the Philippines are their overseas workers (OFWs), who sent home $33B in 2020 alone. It helps that most Filipinos speak good English...as more than half of the OFWs are based in the US. Compared to some other countries who have a lot of overseas workers, it is more regulated in the Philippines, with training beforehand, and more efforts to make sure the OFWs are not abused and can return home if they need to. The first OFWs could be seen to be Filipino sailors on boats to Mexico in the 1500s. Jo does tell me about a more recent related development, where foreign companies employ Filipino workers in the Philippines (called BPOs, or Business Process Outsourcing), of which call centers would be the most familiar example.

The chicken adobo is served with rice and is tender and packed with flavour. At one point it becomes clear that Jo's father has a special love for poultry...but not to eat! He proudly breeds and keeps hundreds of beautiful fighting cocks, which participate in cockfighting (sabong) matches, a very popular spectator sport locally, maybe only second to basketball! Karaoke is also very popular, and Jo definitely enjoyed partaking with friends and at home...many families will have their own karaoke set.

Many of the most famous international celebrities with Filipino heritage are singers (Bruno Mars, Nicole Scherzinger, apl.de.ap from the Black Eyed Peas), though boxer Manny Pacquaio is maybe the best known Filipino national (who also likes singing and has even released a few albums!).

The crispy fried lumpias on the fateful paper towel

I would definitely like to try more of the Filipino dishes the country is known for (like pancit noodles), and after Jo tells me about travel options and shows me a few videos of jumping into a crystal clear blue ocean, I think the best way would be to actually travel to the country once corona subsides...in the meantime, I will visit one of the Filipino restaurants in Berlin!

Chicken adobo in foreground, lumpias in background

Meal 70. Kosovar fli

Kaltrina mixing the batter

 Kaltrina (also called Tina by friends and family) has chosen the most uniquely Kosovar dish to prepare for me tonight. She explains that a lot of the food eaten in Kosovo is somewhat similar to that in the surrounding countries (former Yugoslav countries like Serbia, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia as well as Albania). Turkish and Greek influences are evident as well, in this particular meal by the use of Greek yoghurt and feta cheese. Though the ingredients of fli (or flia/flija) are not that exceptional (flour, salt, oil and the aforementioned yoghurt) the preparation is like nothing I have ever seen before. It is also quite labour intensive, so Kaltrina pulls up two chairs so we can sit and chat in the kitchen right next to the stove and countertop. She gives me a quick overview of her life history in impressively idiomatic American English, especially considering she has never visited the US! Apparently, Kaltrina just has a knack for picking up accents easily. Her first language is Kosovar Albanian. She explains this is only a tiny bit different in accent and certain words and expressions to the Albanian spoken in Albania (comparable to British versus American English). Then, she also speaks English, German, Spanish, Turkish, and a bit of Polish. 

Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, and the Albanian language is a big part of the national identity. Kaltrina is proud to be from Kosovo, though at the same time she and her husband have realised that their ambitions (careerwise) are more easily realised abroad. After finishing their studies in Pristina, and a whole lot of paperwork later, they have managed to get work permits for Poland, Malta, and now Germany. Not straightforward when you come from a non-EU country with very few embassies or consulates.

The finished fli, golden brown

The first two layers of pancakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 So how is the fli prepared, giving us so much time to talk? The batter, which is a bit like a thick pancake batter without eggs, is poured into a heated oven dish in little oval shapes in a checkerboard pattern. This is placed into the oven for a few minutes till the little 'pancakes' are done, then the open spaces are filled in with new ovals of batter and again placed in the oven. Then comes a thin layer of a yoghurt and oil mixture, a few more minutes in the oven, then another layer of batter, a few more minutes in the oven, etc. When I ask if the lower layers will not become more well done than the upper ones, Kaltrina explains that you should only turn on the top heat of the oven (grill/broil function) which ensures that the dough is cooked evenly with this method of layering. The traditional preparation is actually in a round dish, and with a metal lid (the saq or sač) which is heated in a wood fire and then placed on top of the fli to cook it from above. Using a wood fire also gives fli a smokier taste. 

Kaltrina's batter actually runs out before the layers of pancakes have reached the top of the dish, so she just makes a bit more. She shares that the dish used to have the reputation of 'poor man's food' as the ingredients are quite cheap. But as it takes so long to prepare, it is now seen more as a dish for a special occasion. I feel honoured to have the chance to enjoy this dish and to see how it is made. Kaltrina's husband Jetmir and a friend from Kosovo get to benefit as well. The 'layered pancakes' are served with feta cheese, and eaten with your hands. You can easily peel off the individual pancake strips. Definitely comfort food, very hearty. Jetmir mentions you can also have it as a sweet dish, served with honey, which sounds great as well.

After dinner, I try a tiny glass of raki, the local moonshine, of unknown (but high!) alcohol content. The Kosovar variety is not flavoured with aniseed like Turkish raki, by the way. It is interesting to me that Kosovo is a majority Muslim country, but very secular, with alcoholic beverages part of traditional culture. Kaltrina says it is quite rare to see headscarves worn in the street as well; her husband jokes that you see more women wearing hijabs in our neighbourhood in Berlin than in Pristina!

We also briefly touch on the new government in Kosovo, and the new (female) president running on an anti-corruption platform. Kaltrina is hopeful that the positive changes she has already seen in the past few months will continue in the future. It has definitely been interesting hearing about her views, to add to the stories from previous hosts who came from other parts of former Yugoslavia. It is crazy to think how much has changed in the region since I had the Slovenian meal for this blog in 2006!

Golden brown fli to be eaten strip by strip with your hands, with a bit of feta

 

 

 

 

Meal 69. Bolivian sopa de maní and picante de pollo

Marcelo squeezing garlic

Marcelo invited me over a few weeks ago, picking the date to fit in just after an intense period of study and exams, for his MSc in international human rights. It sounds quite hard-core, as he is combining an English language masters (a language he only learnt in his early twenties) with four hours of German class a day. He apparently likes a challenge! 

Another challenge initially was getting access to Bolivian food, as (similar to other male hosts for this blog) he never had the need to learn to cook himself before leaving his home country. By now, he has mastered his favourite dishes, and is happy to share the results. Additionally, there is a Bolivian restaurant in Berlin which he recommends, both because the food is good and authentic, and because it is run by a friend of his. Not that many Bolivians end up settling in Europe...I have only ever met two before myself. When Marcelo urges me to ask me whatever I want about his home country, I realise there are certain stories about cholitas where I am not sure if they are indeed from Bolivia. Cholitas are indigenous (Aymara and Quechua) women from either Peru or Bolivia, who wear traditional dress: wide skirts, bowler hats and long braids. For example, the amazing story about the cholitas who ended up climbing all the highest peaks in their country? Yes, indeed Bolivian, and a well-known phenomenon in the country. There are apparently even cholita wrestling matches, Marcelo tells me, in the theatrical style of wrestling similar to the colourful Mexican lucha libre. I have a very faint memory of a Miss Cholita competition where a participant was stripped of her title when the judges noticed she had fake braids. Marcelo had not heard of this, but a quick internet search turns up that it did happen in Bolivia, in 2007. I also want to check if he feels Evo Morales has indeed done much for the position of indigenous people in the country, as I have read. Marcelo feels the ex-president actually used this topic to create division in the country, amongst a few other not so positive traits, including a strong desire to hold on to power longer than the constitution permitted.

Sopa de maní (peanut soup) with crunchy French fries as topping

We have more than enough time to talk about all kinds of topics, as the preparations for the two dishes are quite elaborate. The peanut soup (or sopa de maní) is made with raw ground peanuts which are stirred over medium heat continuously to avoid burning. It is served with chicken and a variety of carbs: crisp toasted (not boiled!) penne pasta, boiled potato cubes and a crunchy topping of french fries. I have had a variety of peanut soups and sauces from West Africa and Asia but the fact that raw peanuts were used here (rather than roasted) gives this soup a very different taste. The toasted pasta is also a novelty.

The picante de pollo (chicken in spicy sauce) is the star player in the main course, with boiled potatoes, penne pasta with peanut sauce, onions, carrots and peas as sides. An extra pop of colour comes from a tomato salad, which Marcelo refers to as 'decoration', and indeed, though I eat it and it is tasty, he himself treats it as a garnish and does not eat it!

One thing that is a bit sad it the lack of access to at least one of the many (thousands!) varieties of Bolivian potatoes, and to chuño, a kind of naturally freeze-dried potatoes that are frozen at night and dried during the daytime over several cycles. Apparently the taste is truly different, and it can last out of the fridge for many years. We discuss how it is funny that so many European cuisines (Dutch, German, Irish) are based around potatoes without realising this is actually an 'exotic' plant from the Americas. These foreign origins are forgotten to such an extent, that Kartoffel is even a nickname for Germans when they are being typically German!

The picante de pollo with potatoes, pasta with peanut sauce and veggies