Food and culture in North Macedonia

The food and culture in North Macedonia is very exciting and so different from what we have in the rest of Europe. There was no end to the hospitality during our visit to North Macedonia. Kicevo, and as several readers guessed, we stayed for a while... After I had tried the Albanian festive clothing we learned that in the evening we were invited to a fish restaurant!

As you may recall, in the beginning in Albania we had some difficulty finding traditional Albanian food. In the restaurants you mostly find grilled meat/fish with french fries or pizza/pasta. Now we have tried both Albanian and Macedonian food, so we thought we would take the opportunity to tell you a little more about food and culture in North Macedonia. At the same time, we need to explain a bit about the different ethnic groups in this country ...

North Macedonia - a multi-ethnic country

We are in North Macedonia, but as you know, we have mainly met Albanians, who are a large minority group (24% of the population according to Wikipedia and much more in the part of the country where we are). Macedonians are primarily Orthodox Christians and Albanians are primarily Muslims.

Different languages in North Macedonia

The two communities speak different languages. Macedonian is a Slavic language, related to Bulgarian, which is written with Cyrillic letters (as in Russian). Albanian is an Indo-European language (like Swedish, English, Spanish, etc.) but forms a separate language family and is not closely related to any other language spoken today. Albanians in North Macedonia mostly speak Macedonian, but Macedonians do not usually speak Albanian and the two communities have separate schools.

How do you get along?

So how do the two communities manage to coexist in the country? This is probably difficult for an outsider to understand, and we will not go into it in depth. Our understanding is that the two groups try (and succeed!) to get along well and co-operate in many ways, but that there are also underlying conflicts.

When we ask the campsite owner if it happens that Albanians and Macedonians marry each other, he answers "One in a million". Then he adds "There is one such couple here in Struga".

Visit to a Macedonian fish restaurant

We have been offered a lot of Albanian food during our visit to Kicevo, but the day before yesterday our Albanian friends took us to a Macedonian fish restaurant. This time it was one of Shefik's friends who offered and we still didn't pay... People here are incredibly generous and hospitable! 

The restaurant, which is located just outside Kicevo, has its own fish farm and the food was fantastic! The fish was completely fresh and before it was cooked we got to see it live when it was taken from the fish farm.

Food and culture in North Macedonia - dishes

North Macedonia is an affordable country to visit, so you can take the opportunity to eat out in restaurants often. At home, stews are common and a very common ingredient is white beans. They eat lamb, chicken and fish. Many Albanians are Muslim and do not eat pork. Here are some dishes to try.

National law Tavce Gravce

The national dish of North Macedonia is a bean stew cooked over low heat and preferably over an open fire made from fresh butter beans, onions, oil, red pepper (dry) parsley salt and pepper. The bean stew was called Tetovski Gravce in the former Yugoslavia and comes from the very old town of Tetovo.

Cevapcici

Cevapcici is a grilled lamb mince with raw onions with a rice mixture with vegetables or potatoes in wedges that is eaten in every home, with tomato or tomato sauce.

Sharska pljeskavica

Sharska pljeskavica, or Sharska burger as it is also called, is very tasty and above all juicy. This is what you need - minced meat, bacon, mozzarella, egg, breadcrumbs, onion, paprika, mint, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.

Shopska salad

Shopska salad is the very common salad that you get on the table before dinner and often contains tomatoes, onions, roasted/grilled peppers, cucumber and of course grated feta cheese on top.

Burek and peta

Burek is everywhere and also found in many fast food outlets in both North Macedonia and Albania is burek - a pie made of filo dough with various fillings such as spinach, cheese or meat.

When we were served a similar dish at Shefik's sister's house, it was called "peta" - a baked dish made of dough, filled with cheese and leeks. This was accompanied by tomatoes and yoghurt to drink. We were told that this was a traditional Albanian breakfast, but that many people today do not have the opportunity to spend this time cooking in the mornings. It was delicious anyway!

Turli Tava

Turli Tava is a pot in a clay pot where you throw everything you have at home without planning it beforehand, and put it in the oven or over an open fire.

baklava

Baklava is a really sweet pastry or desert. Imagine filo dough, honey and nuts. This must be from the Ottoman Empire!

Food and culture in North Macedonia - drinks

These parts of the world started making wine around 1000 BC and red wine is the dominant drink, with beer and raki being the other drinks. Here is some information and the drinks.

Oil in North Macedonia

• Skopsko beer is by far the biggest
• Bitolsko from Bitola brewery
• Gorsko beer
• Kenbach premium
• Zlatan Day

Spirits in North Macedonia

• The biggest and most commonly drunk by men is raki, rakija, rakia made from plums and figs. 30-50%
• Strumicka Mastika is a spirit that is drunk on ice as an aperitif made from plums, raisins, figs and grapes. 43 %

Wines in North Macedonia

The most common grapes in North Macedonia are the reds Kadarska, Prokupac Vranac, Plavac, Merot and Vabernet Sauvignon and the whites Chardonnay, Muscat Ottonel, Smederevka, Zilavka, Sauvignon blanc.

• From Kamnik winery you will find the red "Terroir and Signature", the white "Golden Temjanika" and the rosé wine "Sexy".
• Bovin Winery has the red wine "Bovin Merlot", the white "Muscat Temjanika and Dissan" and the rosé wine "Ana Marija".
• Tikves winery has the red Vranec, T'ga za jug and Barovo, the white wines Smederevka and Cuvee Cyril.

More to read

Here you can read more about North Macedonia, as well as the food and culture of other countries in this part of Europe. Even more reading can be found by clicking on the image below.