Eating in the Balkans

The cuisine of the Balkans is very much about meat and carbs.  Green vegetables aren’t easy to grow, and though one does see vast fields of corns, they’re largely there to feed the cattle.  These people seem to have the same land-use issue with raising beef, at a micro level, as the Amazon has at a scale thousands of times larger.

That said, Slovenia in particular is very fond of the hundreds of different varieties of wild mushrooms that grow in the lush forests and green meadows and are hand-picked by eager chefs throughout the land, usually winding up in soups.  It is for this reason that meals are begun, not so often with the words, “bon appetit,” but rather with, “good luck!”