country Essentials · 12 foods
Bosnia and Herzegovina Essentials
A considered first route through Bosnia and Herzegovina: the foods that carry its everyday habits, celebrations, ingredients, and memory.
Explore all Bosnia and Herzegovina foods →THE
ESSENTIALS
The complete shortlist
12 foods to know.
Each selection includes the reason it belongs here—so this is a guide, not just a pile of names.
Sarajevo, Kosovo
Ćevapi
Sarajevski ćevapi
Ten beef fingers off the charcoal, packed into half a somun with raw onion and kajmak.
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Begova Čorba
The bey's soup: chicken and whole okra thickened with cream and yolk
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosanski Lonac
Layered meat and vegetables slow-cook together in a clay pot.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Zeljanica
Spinach and fresh cheese in hand-pulled pastry, eaten with soured milk poured over the top.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnian Coffee
Bosanska kafa
Ground coffee in a džezva with a fildžan, a sugar cube and lokum
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tufahije
Walnut-stuffed poached apples are chilled and topped with cream.
Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnian Smoked Beef
Suho meso
Beech-smoked beef, sliced translucent or dropped into the bean pot to give grah its whole flavour.
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Klepe
Tiny beef dumplings under garlic yogurt and paprika butter
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Somun
Wood-fired flatbread that puffs hollow, split to hold ćevapi and baked in bulk for iftar.
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Žilavka
Herzegovina's white grape off the karst around Mostar — mineral, full and stronger than it tastes.
Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Travnik Cheese
Travnički sir
Sheep's cheese matured in barrels on the Vlašić pastures
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hurmašice
Fork-pressed semolina biscuits drowned in cold syrup while still hot, so they swell and stay wet.