Promotion through the pen and Lens

Croatia Wine and Dine

A photographer, a gourmet, an art Director, Carmen Grenier from Ottawa has spent five months travelling in Croatia and during these months she has covered 8300 kilometres along the Croatian coast, the hills, the islands, and the hinterland while exploring new culinary ideas and adventures. She published her research of the Croatian wine and food on the website carmencuisineandtravel.com . Here, conventional Croatian recipes in French and English are easily available and the traditional Croatian dishes and the products which are necessary for preparing them, like the Dalmatian smoked ham (pršut), cheese from the island of Pag, , the smoked sausages (kulen) from Slavonia, etc, are shown through beautiful photos. Special stress has been given to wine, olive oil, and brandy and, because of this, different varieties are presented like, grk , graševina, Istrian malvasia, teran plavac, mali, and žlahtina wines some other types of brandies. She has also shown the markets of eight Croatian towns to the public.

In October 2007 she first visited Croatia when a friend persuaded her to accompany her. She travelled from Zagreb to Lovran, and other parts of the country like Dubrovnik and was spellbound by the Croatian culinary tradition, which was formed through various historical influences and eras by the neighbours and different conquerors. In April 2008, she came again for a five-month journey to the country, and visited every part of it and researched for culinary pleasures. The end result of this wonderful journey is the website, which will be regularly “refreshed” with new articles and photos dedicated to the country and the food.

She was too impressed with the country and could not single out one area which she liked the most, but her favourite in terms of food are pršut , Ston oysters, cheese form the island of Pag, kulen, kremšnite (custard cake), meat prepared under an iron bell, mussels stew, cold pressed olive oil from Istria ,wild mushroom soup, and Slavonian white wines.

She says that Croatian cooking is as per the limate of the country and the dishes, have a Mediterranean flavour and are prepared in an easy and very tasty way. “If you travel to Slavonia, you will be able to enjoy kulen with peppers and garlic or try grilled game somewhere near an open fire. And in Istria you can try the white or black truffles, the wild asparagus or pasta with seafood”, says Carmen Grenier. She is very hopeful that this website will provide the tourists and others with the information of what Croatia truly is.