Several hundred visitors - locals and foreigners who could hardly understand how someone was giving them piles of imaginative and, for them, never-before-seen delicious dishes completely free of charge (alamaka), gathered on Saturday evening on the city promenade Pine in Tivat for the traditional gastro-festival "P(i)jat od žućenica" - the central event for Tivat's indigenous cultural and entertainment event, as its organizers say "good for all the senses" - "Žućenica fest".
The tables set up on the waterfront were bending under the weight of ovals, pijadels, roštijeras and tećas, which contained traditional, but also numerous other imaginative savory dishes and sweet delicacies based on the indigenous coastal wild edible grass - žućenica. Along with the old, traditional ways of preparing it - fresh on a salad with tubers or eggs, cooked with garlic, žućenica shone on this occasion in combinations with numerous other ingredients: meat, fish and seafood, pasta, cheese, vegetables and fruits, and sweet additions...
Visitors had the opportunity to try over 200 fascinating delicacies prepared using žućenica, which further demonstrated how suitable this indigenous and extremely healthy food is for creating imaginative catering offerings. Unfortunately, this has not been sufficiently recognized by local restaurateurs and caterers, who only very rarely offer žućenica on their menus to their guests.
All these imaginative and delicious dishes were prepared with their hard-working hands by members of the NGO Women's Organization of Tivat, which is the initiator and organizer of the "Žućenica Fest", as well as members of the Circle of Serbian Sisters of Tivat, the Women's Organization of Risna, the Grblja Women's Association, the Caritas People's Kitchen of the Diocese of Kotor, the "Masquerade Balls" group, the NGO "Harlequin", and even local politicians from the Women's Councilors' Club of the Tivat Municipal Assembly... There were also guests - chefs from Serbia and Poland, and the Tivat Red Cross also performed, giving its residents from the Ukrainian community living in Montenegro the opportunity to participate in the local gastronomic event.
In addition to the gastronomic offer, visitors were provided with free wine, which was provided by caterers from Pin. The organizers also thanked the Tivat Municipal Company, the NGO “Harlekin” and the Sailing Club “Delfin”, who provided the equipment for the event.
After the traditional performance by the Musical and Educational Society "Tivat", the festival was officially opened by Blaženka Vučurović, president of the Tivat Women's Organization.
"Some of the dishes we are offering you tonight may nostalgically take some of you back to your childhood, and some will probably be impressed by the imagination of new creations that show that we can also be modern cooks who still do not forget the old, which is dear to everyone. 'Žučenica fest' includes a series of different events throughout the year. The most popular one of all is today's, which is the P(i)jat od žućenica", said Vučurović, thanking the Municipality and the Tourist Organization of Tivat, which were the sponsors of the 21st "Žućenica fest".
After being treated to a real feast for the visitors' palates with food and wine, the festivities continued with a performance by the "Assa Voce" a cappella group from Podgorica.
Bonus video:
