Celebrating pumpkin season, pumpkin lovers gather for this annual autumn foodie festival called Bučijada.
From the 19th to the 21st of October, 20 minutes outside of Zagreb and off the highway towards Slavonski Brod, a small town called Ivanić Grad comes to life with music, dancing and food stalls featuring all things related to the pumpkin. The Croatian word for pumpkin is "bundeva" or "buče", therefore the name of the festival is called Bučijada. The festival took place from the 19th-21st of October.
During this event, you could sample and buy all sorts of delicious meals incorporating pumpkin. If you are looking for something to warm you up, their pumpkin soup is just right. Incorporating pumpkin seeds, which you can also buy separately, sour cream and the traditional pumpkin soup, this dish is very rich and undoubtedly delicious. They sell their famous pumkin strudel, or Bučnica, a great snack while walking around the event and a taste of true Zagreb tradition. There are also many sweet dishes that are served which incorporate pumpkin, and contrary to how that may sound, they are all incredibly tasty. Most of these sweet dishes are in fact cakes, such as cheesecake or most notably one called "Kremšnita". Kremšnita is another one of Zagreb's traditional dishes, but is spiced up yet again by this amazing ingredient. They even provide pumpkin beer to wash it all down. Many farmers from all across the region take their pumpkin based goods and sell them at this festival. There are many tents you can stroll around, trying each farmers goods, most notably the many different types of pumpkin oil they make.
The town of Ivanić Grad went all out and made a great celebration. They constructed a stage where dancers in folk costumes of the region danced and sang. Music could be heard all throughout the town. The town was full of pumpkin art installations too.
I find it amazing that so many different dishes can be based around only one ingredient, but it wasn't always like that. Locals say that in the past, pumpkins were only used for feeding livestock. It was not until reports of just how healthy pumpkins really are, along with all their health benefits, that people decided to let their creativity go wild. Thankful they did, as now there exists a fun, and delicious, food festival I would definitely recommend any foodie to visit.
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