The Weird and Wonderful World of Croatian Vegetable Festivals and Traditions

I never thought I would contemplate writing a book about vegetables, but after a glass of stinging nettle rakija too many with a journalist and great photographer who had just emerged from a chestnut festival which had attracted some 40,000 people in three days, I realised that there was a need to bring global attention to the weird and wonderful world of Croatian vegetable festivals and traditions.

This project is in its earliest stinging nettle rakija tasting phase, so plenty of time for your input. Send us your secret Croatian vegetable festivals for inclusion in the book.  Contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WORLD OF CROATIAN VEGETABLE FESTIVALS AND TRADITIONS 

My earliest memories of life surround vegetables. Sunday lunch with the family. Brussel sprouts and cabbage. When the plate arrived accompanied by meat and potatoes, the vegetables looked so small, but having eaten the meat and potatoes and pushed the vegetables around the plate in the hope they would disappear, they loomed larger than life.

"You are not leaving the table until you have finished."

It was the same ritual every Sunday, with the end result that I ended up eating cold cabbage and cold Brussel sprouts for most of my youth.

I hated vegetables.

Years later, I found myself as an aid worker in Rwanda, after the genocide of 1994. An incoming donation from an American seed firm meant that I was in temporary charge of some 20 metric tons of vegetable seeds, some 1.5 million sachets in all, and enough to feed the whole of Africa and beyond. As the waybill detail of the shipment was limited to the helpful description 'Seeds', I spent a joyous three weeks with 15 non-English speaking locals sorting the vegetable seeds into their own categories. I noted with incredulity that the American company had sent 8,000 sachets of catnip seeds to help post-genocide reconstruction, and gave up when i saw one guy mixing white and orange carrots in the same box (parsnips are not big in Central Africa).

The highlight of the African seed donation was an appointment with the Minister of Agrictulture, who had taken an interest in this fascinating seed collection, and he invited me to tea to overview the selection and to discuss the possibilities for introducing these vegetables into the Rwandese context.

"And what are these?" he asked, picked up a sachet of Brussel sprout seeds.

Fantastic! A minister of agriculture asking ME to explain Brussel sprouts.

"Oh, sprouts. They are not very nutritious, not very tasty, and I would send them straight back to America," I replied, doing perhaps my greatest service to the children of Rwanda in the process.

Vegetables and I are not close then. But then something strange happened. I moved to Croatia.

Having been to 90 counties, I would not say that Croatia has a bigger or better selection of vegetables than other coutries I have visited, but one thing it does best of all was very soon clear - this is a country who knows how to celebrate the vegetable. In style.

Pumpkin festivals, world-record cabbage dishes over a kilometre long, a chestnut festival with more than 40,000 people in just three days. Ice cream from lavender and fava beans, rakija from olives. If you were a vegetable in Croatia, you were a superstar.

And yet, despite the rich calendar of festivals, there has been no dedicated book to the gastronomic richness and contribution of the humble Croatian vegetable to the quality of life in this diverse and emerging European country. Until now.

"The Weird and Wonderful World of Croatian Vegetable Festivals and Traditons" is a journey through the rich regions of the EU's 28th member, investigating the traditions, the festivals and the recipes that make Croatian cuisine one of the most diverse and undiscovered in modern Europe.

The book takes the reader on a journey to 30 of the country's more popular fruits and vegetables, with associated annual festivals, recipes and traditions, as well as a closer look at some of the best restaurants in the region promoting the most traditional of vegetable dishes.

Concept:

The book will focus on 30 festivals and vegetables throughout the regions of Croatia, providing in-depth analysis, as well as festival details. Each vegetable/festival will be accompanied by 2-3 recipes, as well as a feature on a well-known restaurant in the location.