It has also been trending within Balkan pop culture. His followers started posting their own jars and commenting on different versions of it in his thread. "We can show the world what the Balkan power is if we could get #ajvar trending," said Bosnian writer Aleksandar Hemon, who recently tweeted an image of jars of different types of ajvar. Ajvar's appreciation is also apparent in the online world. During autumn and winter, for example, people across the Balkans gather at ajvar festivals and ajvar-making competitions to celebrate the spread.
In the countries that emerged from the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, cultural and culinary heritage helped form a sense of identity, and every country longs to prove that what used to be a common good is exclusively its own.Īcross the Balkans, ajvar has come to represent much more than just food it's also a source of pride and comfort, and offers a sense of belonging. Much like the 2003 Bulgarian documentary Whose Is This Song? about a popular folk song that all Balkan nations claim as theirs, the battle over ajvar depicts the tragicomic nationalism ever present in the conflict-ridden region. Heated ajvar debates have been sparked before, such as when the Slovenian media reported on the attempt of a Slovenian food company to protect the name "ajvar" in the German market and when RTS (Radio Television of Serbia) reported that a Serbian ajvar producer would file a lawsuit against one from North Macedonia for falsely branding and selling its product as " Leskovac Ajvar" (a famous ajvar produced in southern Serbia's city of Leskovac). Dua Lipa, a British singer of Kosovo origin, referred to ajvar as an Albanian dish in a 2020 interview, which infuriated some Serbians who insist that ajvar is Serbian, which in turn upset some citizens of North Macedonia who say it belongs to them. Similar to how hummus is viewed in the Arab world, practically every Balkan country claims ajvar as its own. The discrepancy between this first documented recipe and the current method of preparation in Serbia is likely related to the fact that people have moved around the region and shared food traditions. Yet, Serbians usually make ajvar only from red peppers, while citizens of North Macedonia are typically the ones who also use aubergine. In the first known published ajvar recipe, found in the Great Serbian Cookbook from the 19th Century, author Katarina Popović mentions both peppers and aubergine. Whether the ajvar will have a sweet or spicy taste depends on the type of pepper used. And many differ on whether the vegetables should be roasted, baked, boiled or even ground fresh. Some do not mention vinegar but suggest adding sugar. Some, for instance, require the addition of garlic, others red onions, carrots and tomatoes. Recipes, however, depend on the region and the cook. The orange spread, based on roasted red peppers, is not only adored by Hasanspahić but also by the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina – and the entire Balkan region – where other "Ladies Ajvar" like her give away or sell homemade ajvar in their communities.īut while Hasanspahić uses red peppers and aubergine to make it, some argue that "real" ajvar should only consist of four ingredients: red pepper, oil, salt and vinegar. "I love ajvar I've always adored it," said Hasanspahić, now a food entrepreneur, whom family, friends and customers jokingly refer to as "Lady Ajvar".
However, her life changed when she started selling jars of her homemade ajvar, a widely popular vegetable delicacy, which she had previously only gifted to her loved ones. Just a decade ago, Melisa Hasanspahić from the eastern Bosnian town of Goražde could not have imagined that today she would be running a food production business based on a recipe she inherited from her mother.
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