Dobar Tek- Croatian for Bon Appétit!

I speak Croatian like a one year old. Despite my best efforts, my Romance Language hard-wired brain (native tongue is Spanish), just doesn’t want to jive with my husband’s Slavic lingo. I can say bread, cheese, meat and cake with the best of them in Croatian - interspersed with a please and a thank you. That held me in good stead as we travelled through Croatia recently (he’s a fluent speaker so I didn’t have to say too much) - a beautiful country that in parts looks the spitting image of Italy’s Tuscany at a fraction of the price. And yes, the food and wine are as good!

There is a major food distinction to be made in Croatia. Inland cuisine features a “Continental” style repertoire with hearty meat, potato and bean dishes for example. On the coast, dishes lighten up and feature seafood, olive oil and other Mediterranean delights. Within short proximity of each other, we were happily able to sample both.

We started in inland Istria- an area of Croatia that used to belong to Italy. Signage in this part of the country is both in Croatian and Italian with towns like Umag are also known as Umago. And coincidentally, inland Istria is also home to the Croatian truffle. One fine day, Giancarlo Zigante’s dog Diana found the Guinness World Record-holding truffle weighing in at a lofty 1,310 kg! That was November 1999 near the sleepy town of Livade- which now boasts of one of the finest restaurants in the area belonging to Zigante whose specialty is of course (drum roll please) the truffle! Weighed before being delicately shaved over fish, soups and roasted meats- this earthy, sensual delight is in no short supply here and is as good as the Piedmontese varieties. In fact, a lot of truffle I saw on a recent trip to Italy was from Croatia, just packaged in Italy! Dear reader, I’m effusive, but not prone to too much exaggeration. I was as surprised as you are.

The day after celebrating our wedding anniversary at Zigante’s and dining like royalty (truffle even in our dessert!), we drove to the home town of one of the grande dames of Istrian cuisine, Lidia Bastianich (restaurateur, chef, cookbook author and TV show host). The sea-side city of Pula greeted us with an afternoon sun that illuminated the ancient amphitheatre with every shade of gold. Spectacular columns and Roman statues proudly flanked what was once a public gathering space; a crisp blue sky playing background to its majesty.

We walked to the waterside promenade- The Riva- where locals suggested we try just caught fish and a local specialty- blitva. Boiled potatoes, wilted swiss chard, caramelized garlic gently bathed in a light olive oil makes the most perfect partner to a piece of freshly grilled brancin (or sea perch) with a glass of fabulous local Malvasia wine. It was all I could do to muster a sincere “Puno hvala” (thank you very much) to our suntanned server who smiled at my kid-like attempt to speak his language. In mid-stride, he stopped, turned around and in stilted English replied “You are very welcome! Come back and visit us again.” You can count on it!

Photos by Mary Luz Mejia, from top to bottom: Zigante Trgovina, where tourists and locals alike fine truffle cream, truffle oil, olive oil, Malvasia wine; Our server slices the whisper thin truffles onto our dish. The REAL deal!