Macedonian Cuisine/Food

[Gocka]

Some of the baked goods and sweets sound Turkish names Komat, Burek, Kifli, Baklava, Tulumbi but some don't. Pogacha, zelnik, vitlenik. Some foods are similar yet have different names, for example komat, is also called zelnik and vitlenik, kifli and sarajli. The other baked goods I can think of are pitulici, dzomleze, mekici, tigajnci. In ohrid they say Gebrek in Struga Dzevrek.

I honestly don't think we have traditional foods that require recipes. We are a nation of herders and farmers. We probably ate simple, bread, cheese and milk products, various meats, vegetables, fruits and nuts, wine and rakija. Probably lots of stews.

Think of it this way. By the time some of the things we love were brought to our region we were already under Ottoman occupation. Tomatoes, peppers, corn, were brought to Europe after occupation started. By the time those goods made their way to the Macedonian villages we were probably a 100 years into occupation.

I figure we ate rice, beans, bread, and whatever they could grow at that time. The vast majority of what we eat today is heavily influenced by the Turks and western culture.

If I had to pick one thing that I'm sure predates all of that is sirejne.

[Risto the Great]

It wasn't that long ago when all of Asia didn't have a single chilli pepper. Things change.
Having said that, I don't necessarily believe everything had to come from the Ottomans to Macedonia. It could have gone the other way. I reckon we may have had the edge for pastries. But who cares, I'm hungry now.

[vicsinad]

I did read that the idea for pizza derived from Macedonia, Alexander's Macedonians brought it from the Middle East to the Balkans, and the Romans took it from there. Essentially, it was a flat bread with meat on it, and down the line I'm sure vegetables, cheese and tomato sauce was added to get to the common pizza we see today. We've been exchanging foods, cooking tools and methods, and recipes with our neighbors (either through trade or conquest) that it's really hard to pinpoint exactly what came from where when we're talking that long ago. Also, just because the etymology is Turkish, it doesn't necessarily mean it was a Turkish dish. The word for "striko" in my dad's village is "adzho", a Turkish word, but strikos and the Macedonian word for it existed before the Turks came, it's just somehow we adopted the Turkish word for it somewhere down the line.

We see "sirenje" mentioned for the first time during the Middle Ages, so before the Turks came, but it could also have been from much earlier.

[Gocka]

Originally Posted by vicsinad

I did read that the idea for pizza derived from Macedonia, Alexander's Macedonians brought it from the Middle East to the Balkans, and the Romans took it from there. Essentially, it was a flat bread with meat on it, and down the line I'm sure vegetables, cheese and tomato sauce was added to get to the common pizza we see today. We've been exchanging foods, cooking tools and methods, and recipes with our neighbors (either through trade or conquest) that it's really hard to pinpoint exactly what came from where when we're talking that long ago. Also, just because the etymology is Turkish, it doesn't necessarily mean it was a Turkish dish. The word for "striko" in my dad's village is "adzho", a Turkish word, but strikos and the Macedonian word for it existed before the Turks came, it's just somehow we adopted the Turkish word for it somewhere down the line.

We see "sirenje" mentioned for the first time during the Middle Ages, so before the Turks came, but it could also have been from much earlier.

All the Torbeshi call each other Adzo. Where did you say your from again

[Gocka]

Macedonian cuisine evolved with he times. I'm sure predating Alexanders expansion into Asia it would have been very different than after. Then with the arrival of the Romans even more so, then the Middles ages and Turkish occupation, then the Yugo phase.

If you want to guess what things they may have always eaten, bread and cheese is probably right up there along with grilled meats, maybe beans too.

Pastry type dough used in Burek and Komat is probably of turkish origin, as are most of the sweets, but something like Gubi with cheese might very well be our creation.

Like Vic said its too intermingled to pin anything down for sure, and everyone always claims they are the one's who invented it. Regardless all the various people in the Balkans have their own twist on most of these dishes anyway, call me biased by Macedonian ajvar is incomparable to any other variant I have tried.

[Momce Makedonce]

Thanks for all the responses and insight.

I agree with you Gocka even with foods that are the same among Balkan people and Turks, everyone has their own spin on it. Like you said Macedonian ajvar is the best compared to the others and I have even read an article saying that a lot of the piperki that other Balkan nations use for their ajvar actually come from Macedonia, we seem to be known for them.

I find Serbian and Croatian burek to be a little different to Macedonian too, seems to be more dry compared to ours generally.

Turkish baklava they add some peanut type things on top compared to ours which are normally plain.

This has definitely made me hungry, I find cuisine an interesting topic and think Macedonians are up there with our food, I may be biased but I think it's amazing.