Josip Broz Tito was the president of SFRJ from 1943-1980. The guerrilla leader of the Yugoslavian partisan units during the Second World War was a communist with style, a gentleman. During his presidency, he traveled all over the world. While he traveled he never ate the food that his host would prepare. Instead, he would bring his personal chef, a chemist (to test the food for poison) and would bring the ingredients form Yugoslavia. Some time ago, Tito’s cookbook written by Anja Drulović was published and it included authentic recipes from those journeys, as well as from official visits from the foreign diplomats and people from jet set. Meals include dinners with: John F. Kennedy, Fidel Kastro, Queen of England, Saddam Hussein, Elizabeth Tailor… and many more. Sofia Loren even cooked for him on his yacht.
Left: with Sofia Loren, who cooked for him on his yacht; right: with John F. Kennedy
Left: with Saddam Husein; right: with Queen of England
Among recipes of the famous chefs of that time, cookbook gives and a few of Tito’s personal recipes. Based on the meals, I’d say he was a foodie with an exquisite taste.
With wife Jovanka, having shashlik.
The Recipes
Russian Style Chicken
2 chickens (800 – 1000 g)
a branch of rosemary
5 Tbsp of Courvoisier cognac
Štrukli (Shtrukli)
I will be giving away one copy of Tito’s cookbook (in English, or Serbian). Send me your mails to palachinkablog [at] gmail [dot] com with your name and Tito’s cookbook as a subject by November 1st and then I’ll draw a random winner. Good luck!
Edit: The winner of the cookbook is Marta Bigus.
Thank you FoodBuzz!
42 Comments
sve ti je divno! sve mi se sviđa, post zanimljiv..kuharicu sam uočila baš u knjižari pred jedno godinu dana i baš me zaintrigirala..:)
What an interesting post! I didn't know this about Tito. Great photos.
hrana mi izgleda predivno, ali tanjur me oduševio… hvala za nagradnu igru, naravno da sam se prijavila
Love the bit of history you shared! The Štrukli (Shtrukli) looks especially tasty. I don't usually like cottage cheese but cooked like this I think it would be very good
Koji je ovo vremeplov…Bas sam uzivala gledajuci stare, poznate fotke. Strukle bi bas volela da probam, divno izgledaju.
the story about tito is so interesting! great post!
Neverovatno da danas obe pisemo o TitI.. doduse moja retrospektiva je iz 2006. godine ali ne menja stvar!http://majlovgourmetcafe.blogspot.com/2009/10/rusko-pile.html Nasmejah se slucajnosti
Predivan post,imam knjigu,Tito je zaista bio fenomen.
Oh wow, this is such interesting history! Because of you, I learned something new today – Thanks!:)
Kod nas su osjećaji u vezi lika i djela Josipa Broza vrlo podijeljeni. Rekla bih čak da je više onih koji u njemu vide negativca i povijesnog zlikovca. Naravno njegovo povijesno nasljeđe nije tema ovog posta pa se u tu temu neću ni upuštati. Što god rekli ili mislili o njemu mora mu su se priznati da je bio istinski hedonist (što je i normalno za jednog horoskopskog Bika). Samo jedan pogled na njegove vile u Splitu, Tikvešu, na Brijunima ili njegovu jahtu bio je dovoljan da shvatim koliko je on volio glamur, lagodan život, lijepe žene i naravno dobru hranu. Ovi recepti zvuče jako ukusno, a u tvojoj izvedbi izgledaju predivno.Za knjigu ti se neću javljati jer mislim da je veća fora da je dobije neko ko nije s ovih prostora pa da se malo pobliže upozna s našim kuhinjama.:)
Baš lijepo sječanje
Štrukli is my FAVOURITE thing.. only I sprinkle sugar on mine! What I hate about England is you dont get good cheese to make it. When im back home I make it.. but with the rubbish food they have here I dont bother. I dont even make palacinka here because english jam is HORRIBLE!!So interesting (and a little weird lol) post!!
very interesting!it is nice to try new thing! we have back home(romania)some tasty recipe with cottage cheese, same problem i can't find here(canada) the same cheese like home
It's a unique and fun thing to do for foodbuzz 24. The food looks yummy
Odličan i zanimljiv post! Zanimljiva kuharica i super izvedba!
za recepte se nema sto reci, kao niti za tvoju izvedbu:)) odlicno, i post i slikice i sve!
thanks for the štruklji recipe. my mother in law here in slovenia makes it all the time but i hadn't taken the time to ask her for the recipe. i will try it this week!
Tito je bio velika ličnost i ja ga pamtim samo po dobrom. Očito je bio i veliki gurman i ja sam sa uživanjem proučila tu kuharicu. Impresivna zbirka recepata i sjećanja…
great 24 entry! I loved reading the history of Tito and those dishes look delish!
SamiraVolim Vas post..volim Vase recepte..Volim Tita(posljednja sam generacija pionira)a vidjet cemo hocu li voljeti i njegovu knjiguu recepata:))
A VERY interesting read!!
I love food history and trivia and would love a copy of that book.
What a fascinating post! My husband's Great aunt was a neighbor and did care for Tito when he was a boy. This is very interesting information to us. We did visit and we did drive by his house. The region is beautiful. We have many cousins in Kanavli…best from Montecito, CA
Joj draga moja kako su ti slike dobreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!
What a fasinating piece of history. I never knew that. Great selection of recipe – even if it's not dessert!
Marija,I read your post yesterday on my iphone! LOVELY post!! I just loved learning about the history of Tito and his love of cooking! You have such a beautiful blog!
Thanks so much for that little bit of history! That was quite interesting and I love your dishes!
Marija,Where are you living? I am in Canada, and married to a man from the former Yugoslavia… and have travelled there several times… see my blog on making burek! I love your historical articles. I want to link your blog to mine, but cannot find on your post about yourself where you are currently living. Happy cooking!XOValerie
Hi Valerie I live in Belgrade, Serbia.
Thanks for this post; and love the plate of chicken, looks so pretty and inviting :-)
Marija, this is such an interesting post. I surely learned a lot. Made me feel like I am was dining with Tito and his wife:) Great job!
What an awesome post! I love štruklji, they're one of my favourite dishes and my mother-in-law is an expert in making them.
I love the idea! And such a great post!Thx for sharing!And I'm happy to find this blog as I'm a very fan. of Balkan cultures (even trying to learn Serbian online but not that easy to learn it on my own :p)I'll be here often, so wait more lines from me :)Cheers from Istanbul,Banu
Oh and Belgrade… I read on the comments that you are living in Belgrade the city I really want to see!Getting into this blog! :))
Banu welcome! Hope you'll find more posts you like
My goodness, that was a really interesting reading. would be nice to know who of our communists was a real foodie…
The more you gonna post about Balkans the more I will get addicted here :))
Thanks for bringing up Tito. He is almost forgotten today for the man and hero that he was. I met Tito in the late 50's when the company I worked for made him a solid gold rifle scope (I selected the sets of perfect lenses for the scopes) and one for actual use. He was thrilled at the gift and was quite the gentleman. Now, some 50 years later, I have another adventure to repeat to my children as well as a couple of recipes to share with them. Thanks again.
Hvala ti na vracanju lijepe proslosti. Ne slazem se sa Andreinim komentarom On je bio covjek sa stilom .On je znao da vodi drzavu i da narodu bude dobro.
I love this post Marija ;) it's so interesting :)& the Shtrukli looks so delicious
Awesome blog! Everything looks so appitizing!! Love this post especially the cheese strutkli! We had this in Slovenia when we were visiting family. Keep up the good work! Check out my blog if you'd like!
Fascinating and charming, post! I recently made struklji for the first time as part of my “Slovenian roots” cooking/blogging project. Very much like this, but Slovenians tend to leave it in a giant roll, boil it whole, and cut it up to serve. I also used some buckwheat flour Strange but tasty! That chicken with rosemary looks inspiring, too!
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