Balkan Bites Bristol is catering company like none other. Led by mother-son team Dino Zelenika and Stela Holder, who were born and raised in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, they specialise in cooking authentic Balkan cuisine from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the wider region.
They believe that they are the only ones in the Bristol and Bath area to specialise in this type of cooking, making it all the more unique. Balkan Bites Bristol offers a delivery and takeaway service every Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well as a special 'Supper Club'. And now it has teamed up with Kalpna Woolf of 91 Ways to host an authentic five-course Balkan feast plus welcome drink.
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As well as this, the duo's Serbian friend Milica, will cook a Serbian dish in order to show commonality and unity between countries with historically-fraught background. The team is welcoming all to get a taste of delicious food and cultures.
Speaking to Bristol Live, Dino said: "Ever since coming to the UK more than 20 years ago, we have been struck by how little people know about Balkan cuisine and how nobody seems to offer it here. In fact, aside from Dubrovnik and the Croatian coast, people know very little about the region at all.
"I have had an interest in food my entire life, as both my mum and maternal grandfather were passionate foodies and cooks. I did work in several restaurants in Bristol in the past, but found that full-time kitchen work is not for me as I love sharing stories behind the food and talking to people about it more than just standing in a hot kitchen all day."
And so at the Supper Club, sharing stories will be a primary focus. The hosts and guests will share stories behind each dish and tales of their memories growing up in the region throughout the evening.
"I started to host Balkan supper clubs in Bristol before Covid 19 and had the idea to start selling my food to a wider audience, but the pandemic put a stop to those plans. However, as things seemed to be opening up earlier this year for good, the time seemed right to finally start Balkan Bites Bristol," Dino said.
Although Dino was born in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was evacuated as a child to Makarska on the Croatian coast at the beginning of the Bosnian War in 1992 and thereafter spent time both there and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. So, Bosnian Bites particularly focuses on serving food from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, though the team do have very solid knowledge of the cooking in the other countries as well.
"We specialise in selling authentic food from the Balkans in the Bristol and Bath area, specifically from the area that was the former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia). Whilst there are some culinary differences and regional specialities particular to each area, this region is culturally and linguistically similar and many of the same dishes are found across the entire area," Dino said.
The Supper Club will bring a mixture of regional dishes that represent areas across the former Yugoslavia, some of which are very rarely seen in the UK. "For example Slavonian shepherd's stew from northern Croatia and northern Serbia, Mljet macaroni from the Croatian island of Mljet, and Dzandar Baklava from the Bosnian city of Sarajevo," Dino said.
"Even the welcome drink - sage blossom cordial - is a recipe from the southern regions of Dalmatia (coastal Croatia), Herzegovina, and Montenegro, which we made just for the occasion with sage flowers grown by us in our garden in Warmley," he added. And the food will do more than just leave guests full up. The creation of a community, who are either from the region - or would like to learn more, brings another dimension.
Dino said: "Having grown up during a war and having survived ethnic cleansing, I have had a life-long passion about bringing people together and speaking up against racism and discrimination. Bristol is a liberal, open-minded city, and these supper clubs do typically attract people who are interested in meeting people and learning about different cultures.
"91 Ways is a charity we have worked with for years, and whose ethos is closely aligned with ours. They believe in bringing different people and communities through food, which is part of the reason why we will be telling stories of each dish throughout the evening.
"People will also be encouraged to sit with others at the evening who they have previously not met, and share their own stories with them. Kalpna found that this happens very easily when food is shared to groups of people, and we hope that all supper club attendees will come away from the evening with new knowledge and perspectives."
And although the team are excited to be bringing Balkan food to Bristol they share that it is also "somewhat daunting" as few know much at all about it. Dino says "the phrase 'Croatian food' does not typically conjure up many images in people's minds. "This is even more of the case for Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Balkan countries. Us Balkan people do not seem to like opening restaurants.
"Even in areas with very substantial Balkan diaspora populations, such as New York and Sydney, there are virtually no Balkan restaurants. As well as giving people access to a cuisine they have not tried before, we are excited to be sharing stories behind the food and giving people a more positive perspective of a largely misunderstood and unknown region which is still sadly mostly associated with war crimes and poverty."
More on Balkan Bites can be found here.
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