Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦 – Gura Journeys and Ramblings

Our Bosnia and Herzegovina meal consisted of Shopska Salata (Shopska Salad), Sogan Dolma (Beef-Stuffed Onions), Prebranac (Balkan Baked Beans), Tufahije (Walnut Stuffed Apples) and Authentic Bosnian Coffee. This was one of my favorite Global meals. The leftover stuffed apples and Turkish coffee were delicious for breakfast.

I bought a beautiful Turkish coffee set from BosankaStore on Etsy. It came all the way from Sarajevo! Meliha, owner of BosankaStore, suggested the Sogan Dolma and Tufahije for our Bosnian meal – great recommendations! Her sister Mina has a website and Facebook page with recipes for the most delicious looking desserts and her daughter’s Food Diary with dining reviews from her travels. Her posts are fun to read and make us miss traveling even more! 🙂 (https://minasbakery.com and https://m.facebook.com/MinasBakes ).

We purchased authentic Turkish coffee from Sultan Foods and Deli, a local middle eastern grocery store. We love the Turkish coffee set and the coffee was delicious! One small cup and we were good to go!! Our coffee didn’t have enough froth – we just need more practice.

While eating we listened to sevdah, Bosnia’s folk music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyINpy04hQg

I read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. From Wikipedia.com, The story alternates between showing Hanna researching the Haggadah in the present, searching archives and taking her samples to forensic labs, and following the history of the Haggadah across five hundred years, in reverse chronological order, revealing the (fictional) explanations for all of Hanna’s discoveries. The Haggadah is a book that sets forth the order of Passover Seder, the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover.

We watched No Mans Land that won the Best Foreign Language Film awards at the 2001 Academy Awards and the 2002 Golden Globes. It is about three wounded solders caught between their lines, one laying on a live mine. It conveys the emotional and political turmoil of the Bosnian war and the frustrations of the United Nations Protection Force and reporters. Recommended if you want some insight in to the Bosnian war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Land_(2001_film)

From Brittanica, “After years of bitter fighting that involved the three Bosnian groups as well as the Yugoslav army, Western countries with backing by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) imposed a final cease-fire negotiated at Dayton, Ohio, U.S., in 1995.” We found this interesting since it is so close to our home. Since the end of the war Bosnia and Herzegovina has rebuilt and tourism has increased. There are some beautiful cities and gorgeous countryside.

We learned some fun facts from watching Geography Now on YouTube ! First, Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country that has 3 acting presidents, one Bosniak, one Serb, and one Croat. Also, the Perućicas Forest located in Bosnia is one of the last remaining primeval forests in Europe.

Any comments, corrections or additions to our Global Table Adventures are welcome! We have so much to learn!