- /dôbar dân/
Dobar dan is the first Croatian phrase I learned here. It is what is said between store clerks or restaurant employees and customers; a formal greeting between people who don't know each other. Since my two favorite things to do are shopping and eating I have lots of opportunity to use this phrase. However, both
of my habits require a little more preparation here than I’m used to.
There are no fast food restaurants in
Bjelovar, or at least not as Americans know them.
If you want something to eat you either go to a grocery store and make it from scratch, go to a sit down restaurant or order something at a walkup bakery. (or hope someone invites you over!)
Grocery stores are small but there are quite a few in
walking distance. Grocery carts are also
small and in one store they were the size of the children’s pretend carts some of
our stores provide. (This is actually a
good thing. It keeps me from buying too
much since I have to walk home and then up 5 flights of stairs schlepping my
stuff!) You must bring your own bags or
pay for one at the checkout. Most of the brands I am unfamiliar with and the western brands I do recognize are usually much more expensive than one of the
Croatian brands so it is hard to justify the extra expense. Remember I am living on a Croatian salary. Besides, buying the local brand adds to the authenticity
of my experience. Often I can identify
what the product is because it is self explanatory so I have limited myself to
those so far. Sometimes the package
lists its ingredients in English (along with Slovenian, Serbian, Albanian,
Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Croatian) but not always.
I made homemade chicken soup last week that I was able to
eat on for several days. Of course, this
was the most economical (and healthiest) option. I’ve made chicken soup back home before but
nothing has ever tasted this good. I’m
not sure if it was the fresh vegetables, fresh chicken or the bullion I used
but I was really impressed. However,
once you’ve eaten something for 4 days straight you are pretty much over
it. Next I'm making a beef stew since
potatoes, onions, and carrots are cheap and plentiful at the market. Beef is expensive here and I haven’t quite figured out the meat counter either. But
let’s face it I couldn’t tell the difference in a chuck steak and a rump roast
back home either. I really want to buy a ham bone for my next soup but I think
I’m going to need a translator for that one.
Now I can buy produce at the open air market. Most of the vendors are from the villages so I had yet to find one who spoke English. But today I stumbled upon a nice man working one of the produce carts who spoke English. It was such a relief to have his help I told him I would always buy from him. His response was "Hopefully I will be here. I am a police officer and I am only helping my parents today." Well...there you go.
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| The Butcher |
Countries in this part of Europe are known for their sausage. Each individual country and specific regions of countries has their own flavor. I think I ate a sausage and cheese sandwich every single day for lunch when I lived in Hungary. Well, the same is becoming true here. The traditional sausage of Croatia is ćevapi. They are usually served as 5-10 pieces on a plate or in a flatbread. I skip the bread and just pop the pieces of meat in my mouth. Another traditional sausage is kulen. This is a spicy dried sausage that is very full in flavor. |
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ćevapi
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Deli meets often come in tubes that you slice. This photo is of a tube of chicken I bought for sandwiches. I found something
that looked like bacon the other day.
It’s not pre-sliced but looked just like what I am used to. However, the package said Hamburger. I was really scratching my head at that
one. It's not beef or a patty or from the city of Hamburg.
Bread is good and inexpensive but only lasts a couple of
days. I remember this from my time in
Hungary. I guess we put preservatives in
our bread back home because I know a loaf of bread is good for a week or
more. By day 3 you can use the bread
here for batting practice. But it’s
great on day 1 and 2!
Not all milk is refrigerated. Some is in what is called Tetra packs. I've been told we have these in the US. Maybe we do, but I'm pretty sure most Americans have big plastic gallons of milk in their fridges. I have not been able to find fat free milk
just reduced fat. I have not been able
to find sugar free soy milk either. What
I bought was soy light and I assumed it was what I was familiar with. But when I drank it, it tasted like melted ice-cream. I thought, “Wow, everything tastes better in
Croatia!” But when I looked at the
ingredients, high fructose corn syrup was the second ingredient. The other
thing that is glaringly missing from the store shelves is peanut butter. I usually only eat natural peanut butter
however I would pay a bunch of Kuna for a jar of Jiffy! I asked some of my students if they knew
about peanut butter and most of them had heard of it but none of them had ever
tried it. Can you imagine a childhood
sans peanut butter? But if it's Nutella you want, entire aisles are dedicated to it and its competitors.
I have yet to see diet coke or any other diet drink. I’ve been told it is available but just not
very common. I don’t think Croatians
care much for sugar substitutes. None of us should be drinking that stuff anyway.
Aluminum foil is available but comes in small rolls. As a matter of fact, everything comes in small packages. No super size anything here. Perhaps this is the reason they have so much less trash than we do. Trash cans are tiny. The one in my classroom is 8 inches high. It looked like a trash can for Barbie. Slavica asked me what we put in all of those big trash cans. I couldn't answer her, because I have no idea. I just know that one of my Starbuck's Venti coffee cups would fill up the entire 8 inch trash can. I suppose Croatians don't get the mountain of unsolicited magazines at their houses on a daily basis like we do.
In Zagreb and other large cities there are McDonald’s restaurants but not here in Bjelovar. I am actually glad for that. Last year I went to McDonald’s in Rijeka. In order to use the restroom you have to buy something and then you are provided with a door entry code on your receipt. Or you can stand by the door and wait for someone to come out and sneak in.
I’ve been told that Burger King is actually preferred to McDonald’s because of the grilled flavor of the meat. They were surprised to hear that Burger King has become much less popular in the US. I don’t think I’ve been to a Burger King in the last decade. I can’t even tell you where there is one. I wonder how long before Chick-fil-a makes it to Europe. Oh, the French are going to hate the name!
I’m not sure what the exact ratio is but I think it is safe to say something
like 1/3 of all businesses in the town are coffee bars. Sometimes they are right next to each other. Bjelovar has a reputation for the most coffee
bars per capita in all of Croatia and there seems to be plenty of business to go
around. At any given time you can find a
large portion of the town’s population enjoying their espresso sitting in
outdoor cafes. (when it is not snowing, that is!)
If you’ve ever travelled to Europe you know there is nothing
on the continent similar to a cup of Folger’s coffee. This is what I drink, black. I find it difficult to drink the coffee here
without milk and sugar. Like I mentioned
before, you almost never see sugar substitute.
No pink and blue packets here. (does anyone still use the yellow
packets?) Your choices are white sugar
or brown sugar. A cup of coffee ranges
from about 1 ounce to about 3 ounces.
That’s a far cry from a Venti (20 ounces) at Starbucks. I think if I could pour one of the coffees
here into a large glass milk I could probably get something I am used to. But I might start an
international crisis if I did. By the way, there are no Starbucks in
Croatia. As a matter of fact “to go”
coffee is a new concept in Bjelovar and not widely accepted. Drinking coffee is something you experience
with your friends not an item on the “to do” list.
On a continent where brewing coffee is an artwork I find it
surprising how popular instant coffees are in the homes. Nescafe which is a brand of instant coffee is
extremely popular. In Croatia there are
plenty of cheaper brands to pick from with an array of flavors including
cappuccino.
Tea in Croatian is called ćaj (pronounced chai). So when I was buying tea bags I thought I was
buying chai tea. I wonder what they call
chai tea? ćaj ćaj?? I have switched to drinking mostly tea
instead of coffee because of the earlier mentioned reasons. I would like to make a pitcher of iced
tea but I have no ice cube trays and I
am doubting their existence here. Of
course, I could just break off some of the icicles hanging from my
balcony.
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| American Kolache |
As it is everywhere, people here like their sweets. Kolači are one of the favorites. But Kolači means cake.
Can you imagine a Croatian’s surprise if they ordered a Kolache in Texas and
were served a pig in a blanket? (I
guess that needs explanation for my foreign readers. Sausage baked in dough is called a pig in a
blanket.) Chocolate is VERY sweet here.
Chocolate candy, cake, and cookies are almost too sweet to eat. I did say almost.
All other types of shopping appear to be represented
here. There are shops that sell bedding,
jewelry, apparel, school supplies, children’s items, etc.
I have noticed a disproportionate amount of hardware stores that sell
things like hot water heater parts and motor parts. Of course, that is completely lost on
me. Each store is small but has a nice selection. I bought a hat my
first day here because it was snowing.
It was 20 Kuna, about $5.50. I’m
still trying to figure out how much things cost. Sometimes items seem very affordable like my
hat. Other times they cost just as much
as back home but the salaries here aren’t the same.
So there seems to be some inequities. According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the average Croatian
salary is $1385/month or about 8000 Kuna. (I've been told that in the small towns it is closer to about 4000 Kuna.) But when I peeked in the window of a clothing store I saw a Nike jacket for 900 Kuna, 11% of the average salary. Gas is about $7 a
gallon. Can you imagine? I am sure this is why almost everyone drives
small cars; for the fuel efficiency. I am
also sure this is why many people don’t even have cars. Can you fathom
filling up a Lincoln Navigator at $7/gallon.
That would be one hard pill to swallow no matter what your monthly
salary was. At this point we could
discuss Europe’s dependence on foreign oil compared to the United States. But that’s a topic for another time...or never.
I have learned a valuable lesson in frugality in the short time I have been here. Not that I am a big spender back at home but I am afraid I did have the "there is more where that came from" attitude. Regardless of your financial situation there is just no reason to be wasteful. I am adapting to only buying what I need, eating every single thing I buy, and buying only fresh food, not processed. I turn lights off when I leave a room, turn the water heater on 30 minutes before I need it so it's not constantly running and I disconnect my Internet when I'm not using it. I imagine it's a lot like how our grandparents lived (well, minus the Internet part).
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