CROATIA

Food and drink
There's a varied and distinctive range of cuisine on offer in Croatia, largely because the country straddles two culinary cultures: the fish-and-seafood-dominated cuisine of the Mediterranean, and the hearty meat-orientated fare of central Europe.

Drink
Daytime drinking takes place in a kavana (café) or a slasticarnica (patisserie). Coffee (kava) is usually served black unless specified otherwise - ask for mlijeko (milk) or zlag (cream). Tea (caj) is widely available, but is drunk without milk. Night-time drinking takes place in a growing number of small café/bars. Croatian beer (pivo) is of the light lager variety; Karlovacko and Ozujsko are two good local brands to look out for. The local wine (vino) is consistently good and reasonably cheap. In Dalmatia there are some pleasant whites, crisp dry wines like Kastelet, Grk and Posip, as well as reds like the dark heady Dingac and Babic. In Istria, Semion is a bone-dry white, and Teran a light fresh red. Local spirits include loza, a clear grape-based spirit; travarica, herbal brandy; vinjak, locally produced cognac, and Maraskino, a cherry liqueur from Dalmatia.

Food
Basic self-catering and picnic ingredients like cheese (sir), vegetables (povrc'e) and fruit (voc'e) can be bought at a supermarket (samoposluga) or open-air market (trznica). Bread (kruh) is bought from either a supermarket or a pekara (bakery). For breakfasts and fast food, look out for street stalls or snack-food outlets selling burek, a flaky pastry filled with cheese; or grilled meats such as c'evapcic'i (rissoles of minced beef, pork or lamb), and pljeskavica (a hamburger-like mixture of the same meats). For more relaxed, sit-down eating, a restaurant menu (jelovnik) will usually include Croatian speciality starters like przut (home-cured ham), as well as a range of soups (juha). Typical main courses include punjene paprike (peppers stuffed with rice and meat), gulaz (goulasch), or some kind of odrezak (fillet of meat, often pan-fried), usually either svinjski (pork) or telez ki (veal). Mjez ano meso (mixed grill) is a mixture of the above meats, plus jetra (liver). Lamb, often roasted, is jagnjetina. Traditional dishes from the area around Zagreb include purica z mlincima (turkey with pasta noodles), and strukli (ravioli-like blobs of pasta dough with a cheese filling). Another typically Croatian main course is pasticada (beef and bacon cooked in vinegar and wine). On the coast, you'll be regaled with every kind of seafood. Riba (fish) can come either na zaru (grilled) or u pecnici (baked). Brodet is a hot peppery fish soup. Otherwise, the main menu items to look out for on the coast are lignje (squid), zkampa (scampi), rakovica (crab), oztrige (oysters), kalamari (squid), zkoljke (mussels) and jastog (lobster); crni rizoto is risotto with squid. No Croatian town is without at least one pizzeria, often the cheapest place to eat and the easiest, if not the most imaginative, source of a vegetarian meal. Typical desserts include palacinke (pancakes), voc'na salata (fruit salad) and sladoled (ice cream).

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