A typical breakfast is very different from a traditional English, American or Australian breakfast, but they can be found in the occasional restaurant. Omlettes, hams, eggs and cheeses are very popular and can be found even in most places.
For budget travelers the large supermarkets carry fruit yogurt, muesli, and juices and the open markets are always filled with fresh fruit. Bakeries open early and sell hot rolls, croissants, brown bread, apple and cherry strudles which you can take to a cafe and enjoy with a morning cappucino.
All travellers should at some point enter a buregdzenica and try the famous traditional pita dishes of burek, zeljanica, sirnica, and krompirusa. They are all made from scratch and have been a traditional meal since Ottoman times. Burek is a meat pie wrapped in filo-dough. The zeljanica is made from spinach and cheese. Sirnica is made from a fresh, homemade cheese and krompirusa is diced potatoes with spices. Usually one portion (porcija) is enough to stuff you. A porcija costs between 2-3KM. They may ask if you like pavlaka spread on top. Pavlaka is a fresh cream that tastes wonderful with the pita. Thin yogurt is also a popular drink alongside your pita.
Meat eating travellers should try out the wide range of available meats and should not miss the typical rostiljnica that serves up a range of grilled meats specialities. Whether chicken, beef, lamb, or pork, they come fresh from the mountainside. It is common practice here to raise all animals free range, and with no hormones or chemicals. Most people say they can taste the difference.
Here is a list of the most popular traditional dishes:
Cevapi
small meat sausages of lamb and beef mix. They are usually served with fresh onions and pita bread on the side. Cevapi usually come in pointer finger size sausages and are offered by five or ten pieces.
Teletina
is veal, usually served in cutlets. Veal in BiH is not produced by locking calves in a cage to ensure softer meat.
Jagnjetina
lamb grilled over an open fire.
Musaka
a meat pie made of minced beef, very similar to shepherds pie.
Filovane paprike
fried peppers stuffed with minced meat and spices.
Pršut
air dried ham, similar to italian proscuitto.
Sudžuk
beef sausages with a similar form to pepperoni.
Suho Meso
dried meat, either beef or pork.
Sarme
meat and rice rolled in cabbage or grape leaves.
'Ispod Saca'
similar to a dutch oven. A metal dish is placed on hot coals, the food is placed in the dish and covered by a lid which is then completely covered in hot coals and left to bake.
Cheeses are also prepared and strained in a variety of ways and are absolutely delicious. The vegetarian traveller will have a hell of a time getting through these which can ordered as a large starter or side dish in restaurants, bought in supermarkets or at the market where is has been freshly and naturally prepared.
Travnicki
a white, feta-like cheese from the Travnik district in central Bosnia. It is a bit salty and very popular with 'meze', which is the tradition of slow drinking and eating throughout the course of a whole day.
Vlašicki
similar to travnicki cheese. It is a highland cheese from the mountain villages on Vlašic Mountain in central Bosnia.
Livanjski
is more similar to the dry yellow cheeses of Dalmatia. It is very tasty and usually more expensive than others. It originates from the west Bosnian town of Livno.
Mladi Sir
literally means young cheese. There isn't an equivalent to it in English. It has a soft texture and is unsalted. Often times it is served with a cream sauce on top. It is very healthy.
Kajmak
is the most difficult of all cheeses to translate. It is the top layer skimmed from milk, it is creamy and extremely tasty. Kajmak and ustipak (doughnut type roll) is a wonderful appetizer.
Iz mjeha
sheep milk poured into a specially sewn sheep skin 'bag.' After a time the dry cheese is taken out of the skin container and the result is a strong, dry cheese that resembles real parmesan.
