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Food in Bosnia

Given Bosnia’s location and history, its cuisine has been influenced by both Eastern and Western tastes — notably Turkish, Central European, and Meditaranean. Meals mostly contain meat and bread with little else.

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What do people eat in Bosnia?

Given Bosnia’s location and history, its cuisine has been influenced by both Eastern and Western tastes — notably Turkish, Central European, and Meditaranean. Meals mostly contain meat and bread with little else. We had to look hard to find any kind of green vegetables when traveling there.

Many Bosnians will eat eggs and bread in the morning, a big meal for lunch and a late light dinner.

The cheapest way to eat when traveling, of course is cooking for yourself. Some hostels, especially in Sarajevo and Mostar, have kitchens. Buying vegetables, meats and local dairy products is usually cheapest in the markets. I say usually because without a written price vendors will sometimes try to charge foreigners more. If it seems like the price is too high for something, go to another stall. Snacks such as burek and cevapi are fairly cheap, and it is easy to fill up on all the bread stuffed with meat/potato/cheese varieties.

Common foods of Bosnia and Herzegovina

This is Cevapi, a typical food in the Balkans

  • Cevapi: a Balkan kebab usually served with pita bread. It is delicious.
  • Burek: a snack made out of filo dough and filled with spinach, meat, cheese or potato.
  • Chorba (soups) and stews are common, usually containing some meat, cabbage, onion and carrot.
  • Sarma: meat and rice wrapped in pickled cabbage leaves
  • Sogan-Dolma: onion and meat dish
  • Cufte: meatballs
  • Smoked meats are common and are often cured locally and sold in markets.
  • Cheeses: there different local varieties of cheeses
  • Desserts include:
  • Baklava: a little different from its Turkish and Greek counterparts and definitely worth a try. Baklava is made of flaky pastry layers filled with nuts and drenched in honey.
  • Krempita: a creamy custard
  • Hurmasice: bite sized walnut dessert with sweet syrup
  • Sutlijas: a rice pudding
  • Tulumbe: deep fried dough with syrup on top
  • Ice Cream: there are locally made varieties as well as commercially packaged ones.

Popular beverages in Bosnia

  • Bosnian coffee which is like Turkish coffee
  • Rakija: the local liquor made commercially and at home
  • Beer and Wine

Photos of Bosnian food

Sarma, meat inside of pickled cabbage leaves

Burek, a Bosnian pastry

Vegetables are disgusting in Bosnia

Return to the Bosnia Travel Guide

More information about finding cheap food when traveling

Read more about Bosnia and Herzegovina on the travelogue

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina travelogue entries

More Vagabond Journey.com Travel Guides

What did you eat when you traveled to Bosnia? How much did it cost? Where did you find it? Where are the cheapest places to eat in Bosnia? The best places? Submit your information below.

Filed under: Bosnia, Europe, Food

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3699 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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  • chaya February 11, 2010, 12:49 am

    Borek is a cheap pastry filled with cheese, spinach or meat. It is delicious and filling but only costs a fraction of a full meal.

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