The Croatian Cuisine Experience
If you are really willing to try octopus in different forms of salads,this is the place to start. On the other hand,when you think pizza, you think Italy, but Croatia might just slightly change that perception.
/I’m one of those people who think that cooking is an art and that the cuisine is part of the national heritage and culture. So whenever I go to a new place, I experiment with what the local cuisine has to offer. I did just that during a summer vacation in Croatia.
We stayed in Krk, an island in the Adriatic Sea. Given their closeness to sea, it is only natural for most of their dishes to be constructed on fish and sea fruit. One evening for instance I ate Dalmaian fish soup (Dalmatinska riblja juha), made from hake (moi), rice, parsley and, interestingly enough, or at least for me, garlic.
Another evening I had some local pizza. It was your average pizza dough (thicker however), with the tomato sauce, generally made from domestically grew tomatoes, but the toppings… well, they’re a different story. They are as diverse as it gets. Do not worry, if you like the traditional pizza, you can get it here. But if you want to try something different, you can choose a fish pizza (riba pizza) or a mussels pizza (dagnje pizza). Another night I tried their octopus salad (salata of hobotnice). It was basically green salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, corn, cheese and octopus. I then talked to friends that had been to other regions of Croatia, and had a different octopus salad, with potatoes.
While I will say that the culinary experience was unique and I do not regret it for an instant, I will make the confession that I was rather hungry throughout my stay. I do not know if you need to eat something you know so that you get the feeling of satiety, or whether sea food is not as fulfilling as our traditional meals. Bottom line, if you want to maintain your figure during the holiday in Croatia, just eat local foods, and you will not gain any weight.