The spring is coming; the vineyards are being pruned to give a new harvest, and also our plans for travelling in the coming period.
One of the regions that we may rarely promote is the Radovish region, which is something that definitely shouldn’t be underestimated. Also the determination of the women from “OZ Zenica NGO” who find the way to promote this region through their activities and their daily life is something that should be cherished.
Vera Ristova is the woman who will tell us about Radovis hand make us get the real picture about this town and its hidden treasures.
Vera says that for her the biggest promoters of the region are and will always be the women who work tirelessly in this region. For years, their society has been promoting the region in various ways, participating in many workshops that are organized in order to transfer their knowledge to the younger generations.
Radovish is a town with a mix of cultures and ethnicities. The traditional cuisine, which boasts several specialties, attracts special attention. The smell of the grilled samuns, the poppy seed salt and the tatlija prepared here are some of the delicious symbols of this small town.
Many of you are wondering what is samun or what is tatlija, so we will try to explain it to you.
The samun is prepared from dough that is placed in a clay pot. After the dough is left, it is stretched with the hands and made into an elliptical shape with raised ends and then they put on it finely chopped pork or chicken meat, cheese, eggs or the Radovish specialty Sazdrma (a mixture of beef or lamb with spices). Then they put pork lard on it and it is baked in a traditional wood-fired oven, which gives it a wonderful taste.
As for the tatlija, this specialty is a kind of a cake that is prepared with fresh cheese, which tastes great and is easy to eat. As the spring comes, the people of Radovish start preparing tatlii with fresh cheese. They usually prepare it for the Forgiveness day and for the Easter. The tatlija has a dark color from below and from above and yellow – amber in the middle, of course if it is made according to the old recipe. And as the old saying goes the longer itstands (only three days) the better.
Vera says that this women’s society prepares different types of traditional dishes and these women are often present at traditional events that take place in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey and other neighboring countries.
If you want to meet them, you can find them at the Easter meetings in the monastery village of Oraovica. In this village, every year, on the occasion of the religious holiday Barbara, bread with a coin is given to each of those present women and the one who will have the “luck” to find the coin in it, will organize the event next year.
They are proud of the event “Radovish Skills”( Radovishki marifeti), an event where every year workshops are organized for traditional recipes, workshops for introduction to beekeeping, cheese production, wool processing, woodcarving, pottery, presentation of the medicinal herbs and many other local crafts.
A member of the organization is a woman from the village of Gabrevci who learned the craft of pottery from her father.
The village of Gabrevci is the most famous in the whole area of Radovish for the pottery. In the past, every household was engaged in making pottery, and their products were sold in all the villagesin Radovish and in the town of Radovish itself. But with the development of the industry, until 1980 there was only one potter left in the village of Gabrevci. A clear proof of the strongly developed pottery in Gabrevci is the fact that in the folk dances from the village, the dancers play with a pitcher full of 12 liters of water on their head.
And just for the end Vera says that the dearest and the most appreciated event they are participating in is “Samun em Tatlija”, an event that the town of Radovish organized until the beginning of the pandemic. Every year this event gathers a huge number of tourists from the country and abroad. According to Vera, the samun, the tatlija and the poppy seed salt are the things that attract the attention ofthe tourists and “Kadnka Radovishka slatka” (kind of cookies with sherbet (syrup of sugar and water)) comes to them as a cherry on the top.
Leave a Reply