What's to eat in Albania?

October 1, 2007 10:19 PM

What kind of food will I be eating when I go to Albania, both what's available for me to cook myself and what others will be cooking for me?
posted by dubadubowbow to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

I tried googling "Albanian recipe" and got a bunch of hits; this will probably give you at least some idea of what the "traditional" food of the area is.

Where will you be? In a big city, you can probably find a decent amount of familiar ingredients--you may not be making korma, or mole sauce, but you should be able to find the basics. If you're out in the sticks, you might be more limited to seasonal stuff and foods out of boxes.

Additional info about your trip? Location, duration, staying with friends or staying alone, working? I'm in far northern Romania right now, I'll try asking around to see if anyone here has any familiarity.
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 1:16 AM on October 2, 2007

The Wikipedia entries on Albanian Cuisine is sparse, but it seems very similar to Greek and other eastern-Mediterranean cuisine.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:33 AM on October 2, 2007

It is going to be Balkan Chow Time for you! I lived in Albanian areas of western Macedonia for a while, and apart from festivals and family parties the eating was pretty simple. Expect cevap -ground lamb meat sausages - and bread with peppers to be the main street/cafe meal. Also beans in a clay pot. Burek - cheese or meat - wrapped in pastry is great for breakfast. Lots of pizzerias serving ... well, depends on whether the owner actually worked in Italy or not, but may have pasta dishes. Learn to like cheese and bread. In the winter it will be preserved or pickeled veggies, lots of potato and pasta. Don't expect lots of fine cuisine. And probably not very much pork.
posted by zaelic at 9:46 AM on October 2, 2007

There are a number of Italian restaurants in Albania, a result of Italy having occupied Albania in WW2. Italian is a common second language for Albanians as well.
posted by cactus at 10:36 AM on October 2, 2007

The Italian restaurants in Albania are relatively plentiful, but in my experience pasta in any part of Eastern Europe is (at best) a weak proposition - really low quality pasta, usually way overcooked, with the ubiquitous "ketchup" as a sauce. I'm not joking about that, either. On the other hand, pizza is often quite good and better than what you'd have in most American places.

Loads of meat (Zaelic's got it mostly right - cevap, any kind of lamb, lots of chicken), and not a lot of "salad" in the American sense, but many opportunities to eat fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers and cabbage.

Soup is a part of most meals, and the soups are excellent. Bread's always on the table. There is often fresh cheese, locally made and sold at markets - not a lot of variety, but good stuff, often made from ewe's milk and "sweet" (that is, not really sweet as such, just not made with any salt, so it's very mild.)

I was offered a lot of chicken liver and parts of lamb I would not normally eat - organs and whatnot. You will miss many vegetables from home, but you'll get more of these in soup than you would at home. There's a lot of "Greek" food like baklava and stuffed grape leaves. Lots of tea and "Turkish" coffee, generally served with sick amounts of sugar.

In Tirana and other reasonably large places, there will be markets or graocery stores where you'll find *something* if you're desperate - but don't count on any specific stuff if it's vaguely processed (there isn't any Hamburger Helper.)

You may get invitations, and you will inevitably be served huge amounts of food you don't want or can't eat. Do the best you can!
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 10:54 AM on October 2, 2007

Awesome, thanks for the great answers-- even better and more thorough than I'd hoped for.
posted by dubadubowbow at 3:16 PM on October 4, 2007