FROM SURVIVAL TO RESILIENCE
FROM SURVIVAL TO RESILIENCE
This gathering paid tribute to the resilience of Sarajevo’s people during the wartime siege, through a three-course menu based on recipes from that time.
With deep respect and sensitivity, we embarked on a journey to rediscover Sarajevo's wartime recipes. Using humble ingredients and innovative techniques, we crafted a three-course menu that tells a powerful story of strength, adaptation, and indomitable spirit in the face of adversity.
Creative Resilience Through Cuisine
Working with modest ingredients and careful attention, we reinterpreted dishes shaped by scarcity. Rice became a form of “cheese.” A dessert was made from breadcrumbs, oil, sugar, and cacao.
Danish feta, a rare treat during the war, was sourced specially for the event. Water was served from canisters, echoing the daily rituals of survival. Each dish carried part of a story—of resourcefulness, adaptation, and the quiet strength that defined everyday life under siege.
Our Menu
Rice “cheese” burek-style pie. Bombice (little bombs) dessert. 3cm cube of Danish White Cheese. Water.
Location
Kuma International, Sarajevo
Date
15 July 2023
Guests received embroidered napkins with the words of Đorđe Balašević: “Sarajevo će biti” (“Sarajevo will be”). A reminder that even in the hardest conditions, something essential endures. This event was not a reenactment. It was a gesture of attention—toward the lives behind the recipes, and the city that continues to hold them.
Sarajevo will be, everything else will pass.
We’re grateful to have shared this event with others, and to honour the everyday strength that defined life in Sarajevo during the siege.
What was once necessity became a space for reflection—on survival, care, and how people create meaning even in the hardest circumstances.
The resilience of Sarajevo’s people continues to speak for itself. This event was one way of listening.
“Around the table, through food is how we connect to one another. Food is our legacy. It is our history and our future.”
Marcus Samuelsson
Menu
We crafted the menu based off of the wartime recipes notebook kindly shared with us by the Kuduz family.
Props
Sirnica Pies handmade by Adnan Pašić of Baš Baklava. Hand-sewn, and custom embroidered linen napkins by Vezenje. Fresh flowers from lovely matriarchs off of Markale Market.
Photographer
Playlist
We've curated a playlist just for this event on Spotify, alternating Top Hits from 1992-1995 with songs recorded during the siege of Sarajevo. Feel free to check it out by clicking here!
Guests
Kuma International Summer School participants hailing from Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Turkey, amongst others.
A Special Thanks
To the lovely Claudia Zini, founder of Kuma International and her fantastic team: Amina Hećimović, Envera Moro and Selvir Učanbarlić.