WELCOME TO BALKAN LUNCH BOX!
Balkan Lunch Box is a food blog featuring traditional and contemporary Balkan cuisine with an accent on cuisines of former Yugoslavian countries. (These include: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia.) Here you’ll find detailed recipes, photographs and videos of flavorsome dishes. Some of these you’re very familiar with, others will make you want to familiarize yourself with quickly.
(Curious what food I’m talking about? Think savory pies. Sweet pies. Fresh and fermented fruit and vegetables. Think lamb, chicken, beef and pork. Stuffed dolmas. Baklava, poached apples and rice pudding. Homemade bread. Crescents and strudels. Thick stews and hearty soups. Crepes. Think fish, potato salad and seafood. Homemade liqueurs and juices. Think succulent thoughts.)
I created BLB in 2014, almost by accident, as a way to share Balkan recipes with American friends. They loved the food they ate at my house and often asked how it was prepared. Blog as a format was the most logical way to share my love of Balkan cuisine with the largest amount of people.
BLB is a bilingual blog. All content is in English as well as Bosnian (Croatian/ Serbian). In addition to recipes, the site is crocheted with stories about my beginnings in this somewhat unstable but endlessly charming part of South East Europe, as well as my coming of age in breathtaking DC.
In 2017, my sister Aleksandra joined BLB team and inspired the addition of videos to the blog. BLB is proud to have been the first to introduce Tasty-inspired video recipe format to the Balkans.
What started as a hobby became a trusted brand. Today, BLB is a website people can visit to get delicious recipes, confident their time and resources won’t be wasted. BLB’s content has been seen by millions, it has a social media following of over 250,000, and was featured on many sites including the BBC.
Most recipes on the website are my family’s and have been made this way, or similarly, for generations. Some content comes from friends or cookbooks, and their origin is indicated in text. All recipes have been thoroughly tested. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to make these at home, and even upgrade them with your own touch.
I was in my late 20s by the time I started cooking. It didn’t come naturally to me like it did to Aleksandra, women, and many men in my family. However, if you ate some of my dumplings or rolls today, you’d lick your fingers. Cooking is a compound interest type endeavor. So if the kitchen intimidates you, don’t let it. If you practice you’ll get better.
You can browse recipes by photos (scroll down to see all categories), or search by name in the recipe index in English or the recipe index in Bosnian (Croatian/ Serbian). For more biographical information, visit the about page.
Balkan Lunch Box is on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. If you’d like to get in touch use the contact form, drop me an email ([email protected]), or leave a comment.
Warmly,
Aida