Inner City Rush

Weekends, you got to love them, right? A time reserved for doing whatever you want and spending your free time doing things you find most enjoyable. Whether you are an impatient twenty-five-year-old daughter, a slightly workaholic fifty-year-old mother or a gourmet cook known by the nickname grandmother, your worlds will collide at one anchor point popularly known as lunch.

I don't know you personally, dear reader, and I am not sure about the exquisiteness of your cuisine knowledge, but I must acknowledge you this: we Croatians take our family lunch pretty seriously. There is no room for sloppiness and disproportion. If you are the grandmother from the beginning of the story, you will most likely be the master chef, and therefore in charge of the ingredients. And don't let me fool you, the ingredients must be fresh and of high quality.

Image credit: Zagreb Tourist Board, Marko Vrdoljak

On the other hand, if you are the mother and the daughter of the story, your will get the task to get those fresh and high-quality ingredients. And if you live in Zagreb, the place to fulfill your task will be Dolac market. The one thing that differentiates Zagreb from other metropolis around the globe is the fact that you can have farmers market on the very square, out in the open, almost all day every day. Isn't that just fantastic? Believe me, it is a world of its own, its own biosphere and ecosystem. Literally :).

Crowded. This is the first association crossing my mind while walking pass this gourmet plateau. Food stands full of lettuce grown on the fields near Zagreb, apples freshly picked on Prigorje county hills and all sorts of seasonal fruits and veggies just waiting to hop into your basket and make a pretty delicious lunch. But, let's not be naive, even though the seaside is 300 kilometers away, you can still find fresh fish and seafood in the market's fish department. Now you know what I mean when I say that this is truly an ecosystem of its own.

As every ecosystem, this one has a master of the ceremony on the top of the food chain. Let me introduce you to – Kumice. These are the nice red cheek ladies standing by the food stands ready to bargain with you about the price of their grincajg. Oh, sorry for not introducing you to grincajg, a traditional mixture of fresh vegetables used to make various soups and stews.

Image credit: Taste of Croatia

So, if you ever catch Kumica's eye, know this my dear reader:

1. They are fair but don't try trick them

2. Prices for groceries are negotiable 

3. 99% of the food were grown by them and their families, and a big shout out to that

4. If you want to know something about Zagreb's history, don't hesitate to ask any of them, because most of them have been here for quite some time

So, the mother and the daughter picked up some grincajg, fresh chicken and a bouquet of flowers, exchanged pleasantries with Kumice and walked home carried by the murmurs of hasty buyers and all parts of colourful Zagreb's society. Let's leave them to their lunch, and I will tell you more about Dolac's history.

Image credit: Julien Duval

This red parasol market wasn't always the center of the fresh food. On the contrary, the old market was situated on the very Ban Jelacic Square because of the Manduševac spring location. As we wrote before, Zagreb once consisted of two warring parts, the noble Kaptol, and much poorer Gradec whose intentions were united only when they went to the city market. As the confrontation became a rare sight, the city needed a proper square, but that didn't happen until the early 20th century when the city elite headed by the architect Viktor Kovačić decided to turn poor barracks and dilapidated houses that have been there since medieval ages into the center market. And so they did. The market was officially opened in 1930, and the red parasols started to fill up the place just near the Cathedral and Saint Mary's church and convent, and they stand there till this very day.

I would be a lousy storyteller if I wouldn't leave at least one juicy detail for the end of our Saturday's lunch journey. Not exactly a detail, as much as a warning. While buying on the market, don't upset Kumice because you can stir up anger of the whole ghost yard. Why, you ask? While repurposing the grounds for the market, builders found what it is to believe the old St Mary's cemetery just on the side of the church. And believe me, the ghosts are on the side of those who are above them every day. If you don't plan to visit Zagreb soon enough, at least, this is a great story to tell over the weekend family lunch, right?

Header image credit: Zagreb Tourist Board, Marko Vrdoljak

Author: Lana Suša