Stuffed cabbage leaves, baked beans, pastries, leek pie, baklava and many more homemade foods were presented to the citizens, at the Roma food fair organized by NRC in collaboration with the partner organizations in the project “Social inclusion of the Roma citizens and Roma returnees in Macedonia” with the financial support of “We act”.
Many people came to the Roma food stands to see, taste and complement the food. The stands were crowded. The food was delicious. There were fluffy rolls, stuffed peppers, delicious baked beans and an even more delicious baklava in different shapes and versions. Macedonians, Roma, Turks, Albanians and Juruks all crowded together to taste the Roma specialties with its recognizable taste and beauty.
The fair took place in Kocani on the street squire on Thursday. The location was chosen by the representatives from the “Romano Vilo” union from Kocani. The most common foods were rice foods, rice stew, rice pudding, stuffed peppers, meat pie, walnut and raisin baklava, baked beans with sausages, potato salad, cheese pie, rolls, pumpkin and aubergine dessert. According to the people that tasted these delicious foods, the Roma food is delicious due to being nicely spiced. The cooks that made these delicious foods could not keep up to serve the guests and to give them the recipes.
On Friday, bazaar day in Stip, we set up the food stand in front of the Roma integration center at the city bazaar. There were people that just did their shopping, who looked curiously and dropped their bags to taste what looked most delicious to them. There was a lot to choose from: stuffed cabbage leaves, stuffed vine-leaves, squashed foods, leek pie, cheese pie, potato salad, rolls, cabbage, mayo salad, rolled cookies, baklava.
In Prilep, on the city squire, random passers –by just glance and leave, until someone smells the delicious meat and potato stew. One after another arrive and the members of the Roma Perspective can’t keep up to serve the people interested in tasting the displayed foods. There was a lot of food over- crowding the stand. Pastries, leek pie, been pie, onion pie, rolls, baklava, homemade cake, stuffed aubergine, … Aunt Kjmet explained how she cooked and that it takes love and will to make the food tasty.
It was raining during the Roma food fair in Kicevo. But that didn’t stop the curious passers-by to gather in the Bela Kula neighborhood and taste the prepared food. Well organized, the “Bela Kula” members welcomed the guests with already prepared portions so they could try everything. They could choose from the fluffiest rolls, cheese pie, fry bread pastry, pastry, baked beans, cabbage, steamed cake, baklava and the biggest surprise-cake.
The last fair day was left for Kumanovo. The stand was set up on the squire. On the day it started snowing, then the sun was shining later the north wind was blowing. By noon, there was a change of all seasons. The people were bundled up in scarves and hats, and immediately went to smell the warm chicken soup with sour cream and goulash to warm them up. They wondered what to try first and they were curious about the traditional foods which were prepared in a new way. The women that prepared the food discussed the recipes with pleasure. Kumanovo people are proud of the squashed foods made of dried peppers, leeks and potato, rice and meat stew, stuffed cabbage leaves, stuffed dry peppers, unleavened cake, cheese pie, cheese pastry, rolls, a fluffy pastry called proja and in the end everyone got to satisfy their sweet tooth with a scalded dessert called tatlija and the treat of the day- chocolate baklava.
