PHOTOS: Festival of Polenta & Cheese held in Čavle

by croatiaweek
July 2, 2019
in News

13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese (Photo: Ured Presjednice)

2 July, 2019 – The 13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese has been held in Čavle. The festival is one of the largest gastro events in Kvarner and Croatia.

In the old days, life revolved around livestock breeding and cultivating the land and the diet focused on what people grew themselves. The Festival of Polenta and Cheese in Čavle remembers the time when people in the area had a connection with nature and the fruits of their labour would feed themselves and their families.

One of the highlights of the festival was the cooking of a huge polenta in a 700 litre pot. More than 20 cooks were involved and they had to mix the polenta with rowing oars. The 500 kg polenta was placed on a huge 3-metre wooden plate.

13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese (Photo: Ured Presjednice)

13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese (Photo: Ured Presjednice)

One of the guests of the 13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese festival was President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. The president took part in mixing, cutting and distributing the polenta.

The festival is organized by the Grobnik municipalities of Čavle and Jelenje, where the President originates from, and for the first time this year guests from Slovenia and Italy participated.

13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese (Photo: Ured Presjednice)

“I came home to see my mom, my dad and my aunt, a master of polenta making, to see my fellow Grobničani and have fun. I was raised on the Grobnik style polenta with potatoes”, President Grabar-Kitarović said.

13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese (Photo: Ured Presjednice)

13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese (Photo: Ured Presjednice)

13th Festival of Polenta and Cheese (Photo: Ured Presjednice)

“I tasted the Slovenian polenta. It is very good, but something is missing. I tasted the Italian polenta as well and something is also missing”, the President said. “I knew that our polenta ‘kompirica’ would be perfect because as the song goes ‘there is nothing better than polenta ‘kompirica’”, and she sang a few traditional songs with her fellow townspeople. She underlined that mixing polenta is indeed hard work and no easy task.