The Bosnian food - one of the best cuisines I have had yet. Yesterday we all shuffled into a St. Louis restaurant named “Grbic” to see how Bosnian food would mix with our taste buds. Prior to trying it out for ourselves, we went to Fontbonne University as well in St. Louis to engage with two professors who are filled with knowledge of the history of this culture and cuisine. We were taught through a video, powerpoint, a map of the Bosnia region and what affected it, and the words of the English professor who welcomed us very kindly into his school. Fontbonne University is also home for the Bosnia Memory Project. In this mission, the story of Bosnian survivors of the genocide is spread out so that funds may come in and so that they may have a voice.
Further elaborating on the project at the university, St. Louis is the site in which many Bosnian people moved to after the war occurred. They are spread out all over the community of St. Louis and have brought their traditions through food to this beloved city. I am thankful they chose St. Louis as their safe site because their food is delicious! I was so impressed by it and I think it is a win-win situation for these people to have come here. They were able to escape the effects of the war, and we were able to get to know them better and put ourselves in their shoes through their traditions.
We were served delicious Cevapi sausage links, pieces of bread with butter on top, a delicious crepe Nutella dessert named palacinke and more. Everything I got was spicy-free, so I was thankful for that. One food item we had looked just like mac-n-cheese but did not taste like it, and I am not upset about that. Our reddish-brown meat portion of the cuisine reminded me of a type of roast beef that my dad used to make for me as a kid, so that taste was happily familiar. After I ate the dessert, I knew it reminded me of something but could not think about what exactly that was. The reason I did not know is because of how our waiter called it bread with a “hazelnut spread,” but I realize that that is the legitness of what Nutella is. It was very good, and I was very impressed.
Now, let us get to more information on the war. It kind of reminds me of Hitler’s mindset because the teachers described it as persecution against a certain race - in this case, Bosnians. There was a lot of prejudice going on and they knew they needed to get out of the mess if they were going to survive it all. The event in which they were fleeing to St. Louis actually happened close to the beginning of the 2000′s, which is quite recent when compared to other major well-known wars. The video we watched together was a part of the beloved Bosnia Memory Project as they collect personal reflections from survivors so that the community is made of aware of what happened. At the university, there is a class taught so that the students are given the knowledge they need about this subject.
It is always tough listening to the tragic events of war in general, but it is something we must all be aware of. It is the world we live in, and it is our duty to help others when they need it. We are to give what we can, and I am thankful that St. Louis has done exactly that and that Fontbonne University’s project is only one of the many ways to get the word out there.
https://www.fontbonne.edu/academics/departments/english-and-communication-department/bosnia-memory-project/
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/restaurants/st-louis-bosnian-food-capital-america-restaurants
http://www.grbicrestaurant.com/menu/
