Great Local Food
One thing that I’ve been absolutely loving about being here is the later meal times! I rarely eat my dinner before 9 PM when I’m at home — in the U.S., plenty of people think I’m weird; here, it’s the norm!
But besides simply the timing, meals are significantly different here than the standard in the U.S. (at least from what I’ve seen — though, considering that all of our meals are at restaurants, I’m sure that what I’ve experienced isn’t exactly how people dine in their everyday lives).
Some notable differences: portion sizes are (generally) far smaller. When you have a plate served to you at a restaurant here, it’s generally enough food to feed one person for one meal — and that’s it! Taking home your leftovers is not a common practice here.
Another one that I found strange is that water isn’t free — rather than everyone getting tap water, waiters will bring out liter-sized bottles of water for the table to share. This has been an adjustment for me, as I’m used to having consistent tap water with my meals and could probably finish an entire bottle on my own!
One more difference (another one that I personally love) is the length of meals. Two hours is a standard amount of time to spend in a restaurant for dinner here. Waiters are in no rush to clear your plates or bring you your check; in fact, in the U.S., it would be considered bad service. Here, however, your servers don’t check in on you every few minutes; they ask what you want, give it to you, and leave you alone, leaving the space at the table open for conversation. It’s a much more relaxed feeling going out to dinner here; there never feels like there’s a rush. This, too, was something I was used to from my experience in France, and some of my friends on the trip who haven’t experienced the long, leisurely dinners before are thrown off by them (and some are irritated — which I don’t understand at all!).
We have had the opportunity to try some great local food here. I’ll admit it; I’ve been to the McDonald’s here. Reaction: the food is pretty much the same, but McFlurries in Bosnia are far superior to the ones in America. In terms of real Bosnian food, however, the clear winner is cevapci, which can be found on any street corner in the city. Cevapci is small sausages made out of minced meat (I’m guessing beef, since so may of the people in the country are Muslims), which are generally se rved with chopped raw onion and a bread that’s similar to pita bread. You stuff the bread with the sausages and onion, and then do your best to not make an utter mess of the meal (but good luck with that). I don’t see a way you could come to this country and not try cevapci — unless you’re a vegetarian, in which case, good luck! The few vegetarians on our trip have been struggling to find restaurants that can offer them food choices more exciting than rice and grilled vegetables.
