Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Fast Food, or Gone Quickly

This is my appeal for the state to subsidize out-of-the-ordinary fast food. At least until eating habits of the Serbian people have changed and it becomes profitable.

The only falafel place in Belgrade has closed. The other day I went there for the first time in a while only to discover that it has been turned into yet another grill. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Serb, I love grilled meats of all kinds, and pizza, and all sorts of yummy pastries from bakeries, but sometimes one just wants to eat something else on a short lunch break. And there isn’t anything.

Is it possible that in a land with such good food and such a love of food, there is no room for something with more spice, or rice? I guess the problem is that we see these types of food as something that will bring a little variety, something that we can eat every once in a while. And that’s obviously not enough. There are not enough people who see this food as their daily bread, or hamburger, or burek.

So basically, this is also my appeal to all people of good will from the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, South-east Asia and the Far East, Africa and Latin America to come and settle in Belgrade in large numbers, building communities, bringing with them a breath of fresh air and a little variety. Maybe if we sit down and eat each other’s food, this will be a better place.

3 comments:

Bg anon said...

Yeah I read about this over at Marovic's B92 blog. I also enjoy a falafel and variety in food.

Your comment about pastries had me thinking. I dont agree that Belgrade has many nice pastries in its bakeries. In fact IMO the choice is pretty poor - particularly if you go in the afternoon. A choice between burek, the same pie but with cheese, the same pie but with mushroom and some small things that are basically flour and water, is no choice at all.

I would like to see bakeries / pattiseries of the kind seen in Paris, London or Rome.

But hey you know what. Its all about demand and the main factor is still money. People eat the cheapest way possible and they eat what they are used to - its only recently things have started changing here with the Lawsons and Olivers of the world doing their cultrual 'contamination' thing :)

Marko, some of us bloggers are getting together for the Beer Festival. We could maybe each do a little report from our own view with our own pictures. Thinking maybe Saturday.

Marko said...

I agree that generally the choice of pastries is also poor, but there are some bakeries which have a lot to offer, at least in the morning. Plus I have nothing against good burek.
Hopefully we’ll become more demanding consumers in the near future.

As for Beer Fest, I wasn’t planning to go and already made other plans for the weekend. But you people have fun!

Katja R. said...

yes people do eat as cheap as possible, and the other thing, if you can't afford to eat out very often you want to at least be sure you'll LIKE what you get. Indian cuisine is for those not raised with it, an acquired taste. Then there's the matter of ingredients being available, that's a problem in all of the Balkans. I had to bring my own spices with me the first two trips and due to the whole insanity with the Foot and Mouth Disease, did not dare the third time to bring anything like that for fear the customs guys would take it away. I carefully conceald my incense too, it was old and pre-dated the epidemic. Indian style stick incense uses cow manure as one of the ingredients. I brought plastic wrapped Tibetan incense which uses yak manure instead of cow manure. I needed it to ward off mosquitos!
Anyway these panics that affect travel and the movement of goods, affect all this sort of thing.
I thought they had nice pastries in Sarajevo, but the need to be there before 3:00 pm is a factor there as well! The good stuff gets eatten up and it's a lot of work putting it together!