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An Absence of Bowls
It's a weird thing in The Balkans (as well as maybe other places) but there really are no bowls. Plates, yes. Cups, yes. Deep plates, yes. Big cups, yes. Bowls? No. At least not in the sense that I'm used to.
It was maybe after the second or third apartment that we rented where I realized that there were no bowls that make eating cereal easy. So, I found myself eating out of what was basically a soup plate most of the time. It wasn't the worst thing in the world and not a super big deal, but it just stuck out as one of those things you really don't notice for awhile.
It wasn't until I actually got to Slovenia that I found that people used big cups when they wanted to eat something like a cereal.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that you shouldn't head to anywhere in former Yugoslavia expecting to find the full set of tableware that you're used to. If it's really going to cause you problems, then I'd recommend bringing your own bowl just to make sure you're covered.
Comments:
08 20 2007 Crystal Kubitsky
I ran into the same issue when living in Zagreb for 5 months. I searched high and low in all the expensive and cheap stores looking for anything that resembled a decent bowl by which to eat cereal. We ended up settling to eat out of a single, small steel mixing bowl that cam in a set the family bought us for cooking.
When we move back, I'm definitely bringing along some REAL bowls.
08 22 2007 Hudin
Ugh, that doesn't sound so appealing. Kind of like camping, but all the time. Honestly, I think the only reason that the big cups even exist is so that people can eat čokolino. Otherwise, any form of a bowl would be completely and utterly absent.
09 19 2007 maldahar
We don't eat that much cerials in Coratia. This is your favourite thing to eat at breakfast and not ours). That's why the bowls are not as procurable here as they are in America. But we have them, and I have just been eating my cerials from one this morning. so pall, you we been to some real shitty hotels if they didn't ofer you one :)
09 19 2007 Hudin
Yeah, but for soup. I mean come on, there is soup there and that requires bowl. Somehow the bowls come out in restaurants for soup, but then hide from all other people. It is very strange.
09 20 2007 maldahar
Ok, for soup we use a plates, just like all Europeans do. But I understand what you mean. You don't have čevapi and burek, we don't have bowls :)).
