The gathered event participants, many natives of the island of Korčula and the town of Blato, and their guests, were warmly welcomed by Croatian Heritage Foundation director Mijo Marić. Taking part in the presentation was long time Blato mayor and now Member of Croatian Parliament Branko Bačić.
The Croatian Heritage Foundation, the Blatski Fižuli culture institution (http://www.blatski-fizuli.hr/), and the Municipality of Blato Tourism Board (https://tzo-blato.hr/) joined forces in Zagreb on 3 March to present the Flavours of Tradition: The Table of Blato programme. The event also saw the promotion of Rade Kaštropil-Culić’s cookbook Blajska trpeza (“The Table of Blato”) and of collaboration with the Croatian Heritage Foundation on fascinating projects. The book of recipes from Blato, previously a Blato guidebook, was published by Kaštropil-Culić in 1995. The book, penned in the idiosyncratic local dialect, recently saw its fourth edition thanks to this Australian native of Blato. It features old recipes, typical humour from the region, some of the local melodies, all aimed at preserving the customs and way of life of this ancient island community.
The gathered event participants, many natives of the island of Korčula and the town of Blato, and their guests, were warmly welcomed by Croatian Heritage Foundation director Mijo Marić. Taking part in the presentation was long time Blato mayor and now Member of Croatian Parliament Branko Bačić. The event also featured a musical intermezzo provided by young horn players of Zagreb’s Vatroslav Lisinski music school and a sampling of a range of the sweet and salty delicacies featured in the book.
The author was joined at the presentation by a number of other leading residents of Blato. Ivana Sardelić of the Blatski Fižuli association (a fižul is a low stone bench, usually at a house) read some of the humorous excerpts from the book and spoke of the points of interest in this island municipality. Maja Šeparović of the Blato municipality tourism board discussed the culinary links with the diaspora and spoke of the ninth incarnation of the Days of Blato’s Lumblija. For two hundred years now the lumblija cake has been a part of the tradition of the island of Korčula. It is made only in Blato and nearby Vela Luka. The story goes that a young woman in Korčula and a French baker and soldier fell in love. During the Napoleonic administration of the Dalmatia region the soldier, likely a Corsican, where a similar sweetmeat is made, fell in love with a girl from Blato or Vela Luka. When he was compelled to leave, he baked her the sweetmeat with the message n’oublie pas (“do not forget me”). Her improper pronunciation of the foreign language is said to have come to us as lumblija. The cake is made of leavened dough with almonds, the juice and zest of lemons and oranges, raisins, olive oil and a syrup made by reducing wine must. It is always baked on All Saints’ Day.
The Croatian Heritage Foundation has been active in programmes led by both associations for the past five years, in particular our branch offices in Split and Dubrovnik.
Cuisine has always—local desserts in particular—been a part of the historical heritage that has been a bond between Croatia’s southern region of Dalmatia and our Adriatic islands and the people that have moved out of this part of Croatia and now form part of our diaspora. At times when people were moving away in great numbers and when there was great neediness, only the flavours and scents of local food and memories could be brought to the new world. Those who relocated were looking for a higher standard of living and remembered where they came from. Even today, the lumblija cake of Blato symbolises not forgetting, a cake of memories. The first generations to move out of Blato maintained this custom in their new surroundings. The fact that the recipe has also persisted among the descendants of Croatian emigrants for almost a century can only serve to inspire the people that live in Croatia who have kept this custom alive.
There is a signpost in Blato that shows the name of all the places around the world its natives have chosen to make their new homes. There are also signposts in South America and Australia showing the way to Blato. Many emigrants and their descendants make an annual pilgrimage to the island home of their ancestors. The author hopes to see the book translated into the English language in the future. All that is written in it should be inherited by descendants of expatriate islanders who do not speak or understand the language of their ancestors.
By: Diana Šimurina-Šoufek; Photography: Snježana Radoš