Bosnian Cuisine

Bosnian cuisine is hearty, meaty and comforting, shaped above all by centuries of Ottoman influence, with echoes of Turkish and wider Balkan cooking. Its most beloved dish is cevapi, small grilled minced-meat sausages served in a fluffy somun flatbread with raw onion and creamy kajmak. Equally cherished is burek and its cousins, flaky filo pastry coiled around meat, cheese, spinach or potato. Slow-cooked stews like bosanski lonac, stuffed vegetables, and grilled meats abound, rounded off by sweet baklava and thick, strong Bosnian coffee.

What you actually see

• Cevapi - the grilled minced-meat sausages in somun bread.
• Burek and pita - the flaky filo pastries with meat or cheese.
• The stews - the slow-cooked bosanski lonac and dolma.
• Bosnian coffee and baklava - the thick coffee ritual and sweets.

When to go

Year-round; humble cevabdzinica grills serve the beloved cevapi, buregdzinicas specialise in fresh pastries, and traditional cafes serve thick Bosnian coffee in the Ottoman style, poured from a copper dzezva. The coffee ritual, taken slowly with a cube of sugar and Turkish delight, is a cherished part of daily life.

Honest expectations

Bosnian food is generous, meat-heavy and rich rather than light or varied, so vegetarians have fewer options beyond cheese and spinach pastries, and portions are hearty. It is simple, honest comfort food rather than refined cuisine. The smoky cevapi, flaky burek and the leisurely Bosnian coffee ritual, though, are genuinely delicious and a warm, authentic taste of the country's Ottoman-rooted culture.

Nearby

Sarajevo's Bascarsija and every town's grills and cafes are the places to eat.