Many people might not put anything vegan on a list of foods from Serbia, but thanks to Serbian Orthodox Fasting, capital Belgrade, and really the entire country, suddenly becomes a vegan haven. I've visited twice - the first time to try as many vegan restaurants in Belgrade as humanly possible and to see if it really was true about the haven thing. And the second time to host a female empowerment slash kickboxing camp for refugees. That second time lent was over, but was the vegan feast? No.
In this Belgrade Vegan Guide you will find:
- Vegan Restaurants Belgrade
- When to Visit Belgrade - Serbian Orthodox Fasting
- Vegan Foods from Serbia
- Vegan Graffiti Belgrade
Vegan Restaurants, Belgrade
Before I start writing about all the vegans restaurants in Belgrade that I've visited, here's some useful info in case you go into a non-vegan restaurant - some Serbian words to look out for (and how to pronounce them):
- meat - месо - meso
- beef - говедина - govedina
- pork - свињетина - svinjetina
- chicken - пилетина - pìletina
- lamb - јагње - jagnje
- dairy - Млекара - mlekara
- milk - млеко - mleko
- cheese - сир - sir
- butter - путер - puter
- yogurt - јогурт - jogurt
- cream - крем - krem
- eggs - јаја - jaja
- honey - душо - dušo
Glow Restaurant
Glow Restaurant is a vegetarian and vegan restaurant in Belgrade - right in the centre. Being attached to 4-star Hotel Moskva, Glow Restaurant has an undeniably posher ambience than your average vegan restaurant - but I could forgive them for that because the food was delicious and the waitress was really friendly (I'd just come from Budapest, a place renown for it's unfriendly wage-labour-workers [so fair enough] and thus I wasn't used to friendly service and I was SHOOK)
I had the vegan burger, although it was pretty, I was a bit disappointed when I first saw it - it looked tiny! But my disappointment soon disappeared - I was so full I could barely finish it! I wasn't over-impressed with the buns, but everything else was insanely delicious - the burgers themselves, the sweet potato chips and the cheese. Omg, the cheese was the best part - made of almonds, it had an incredible texture, truly reminiscent of dairy cheese. It also had a strong flavour (sadly a rarity with vegan cheeses). I loved it. The ambience of the place combined with the delicious food made this one of my favourite vegan restaurants Belgrade.
Address: Glow Restaurant, Balkanska 1, Beograd 11000
Open: 8am - 10pm daily
Price: $$ for Belgrade, but not by Western standards - the vegan burger and a glass of wine cost around $12
Address: Glow Restaurant, Balkanska 1, Beograd 11000
Open: 8am - 10pm daily
Price: $$ for Belgrade, but not by Western standards - the vegan burger and a glass of wine cost around $12
Radost Fina Kuhinjica
Radost Fina Kuhinjica is another vegetarian and vegan restaurant in Belgrade - right next to Belgrade Fortress. Housed in a converted apartment gives it a quirky homey feel, and it's relatively hard to find (there's no sign outside, and you're literally in an apartment building). This gives the idea that you're about to discover something underground and special, unfortunately, this is not what I found.
I ordered the ramen and received a bland bowl of something that I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd told me was dishwater - except I think dishwater would have had more flavour. It was really oily - but not in a good way, and there were a couple of vegetables and a few noodles floating around it in a depressed kind of way. There was also tofu in it that was really flavourful and yummy, but it couldn't save the dish. I don't think you can even blame that I've been spoilt by visiting Tokyo as a vegan - I could have made a better ramen, and I'm shit at cooking. One positive was that I was starving when I arrived and super full when I left, but that should be a given really. They don't take credit card (cash only) and the nearest cash machine was 10 minutes away. The waiter was also pretty rude, not something I care that much about, but whilst I'm on a rant... but maybe the ramen just isn't their forte - this is Serbia after all, not Asia. I've read glowing reviews on HappyCow about their hummus - if you have a nicer dish there, let me know!
Address: Radost Fina Kuhinjica, Pariska 3, Beograd, 11000
Open: Wed-Sun 2pm - 11pm
Price: $$ - super expensive considering I hated it, the ramen was about $9.50 (it did fill me up though)
Shawarma Hanan
Shawarma Hanan is not a vegan restaurant in Belgrade, but as this place was recommended by my real live Serbian vegan friend Natalija <3, I knew we'd be in for a treat, and we were.
I ordered a falafel wrap and it was some of the best falafel I've had in my whole life (including in vegan Israel, sorry, Occupied Palestine). It wasn't dry and it was packed with flavour, the hummus as well was incredible. The staff were super friendly (despite thinking we were Russian). The ambience of the place is nothing to write home about - it's just a falafel bar, but there is extra seating upstairs and it gets the job done seat-wise (you could also just take it away).
Address: Shawarma Hanan, 37 Svetozara Markovica Street, Beograd
Open: Tue-Sat 9am - 1am, Sun-Mon 12pm - 11pm
Price: $ approx $3 for a filling, delicious falafel wrap
Address: Shawarma Hanan, 37 Svetozara Markovica Street, Beograd
Open: Tue-Sat 9am - 1am, Sun-Mon 12pm - 11pm
Price: $ approx $3 for a filling, delicious falafel wrap
Smoking in Belgrade Restaurants
It is still legal to smoke indoors in Belgrade which includes cafes, restaurants and bars. It's gross, but I loved it! I don't (often) smoke, and smoking indoors does make everything smell kinda skanky. Why did I love it? a) it reminded me of my grandma b) it made me grateful that you can't smoke indoors in many other countries, and c) it made me feel like I was really in another country: so often when you travel (especially in Europe), you can feel like you haven't really gone anywhere new - especially when there's a Starbucks and McDonalds on every corner. So when there is something unusual, it's very exciting (edit: I wrote this part before I had a satisfying sex life, lol, can you tell?). Lots of restaurants have a smoking section and a non-smoking section (not that that makes any difference). We even witnessed a waitress stood under a no-smoking sign in the kitchen, smoking. Metal.
When to Visit Belgrade As a Vegan: Serbian Orthodox Fasting
If you can choose when to travel to Belgrade, you must go during Serbian Orthodox Fasting time - this is a vegan travel loophole! So when is Serbian Orthodox Fasting? It starts 40-days before Easter. Easter falls on a different Sunday each year.
During lent many Serbians follow traditional Orthodox fasting rules which will sound very familiar to vegans. The Serbian Orthodox Lent rules are simple:
Orthodox Lent Rules in Serbia
The Lenten fast lasts for eight weeks in Serbia. The first and last two weeks are the strictest with people doing various forms of pious fasting: only eating raw foods / only eating after sundown or even fasting completely. The second through sixth weeks of Serbian Orthodox Lent are the most interesting for vegans though: during this time the general Orthodox Lent Rules apply:
So what does that mean for vegans that travel to Belgrade? No meat, no animal products and no fish? That's basically vegan rules! Restaurants, pastry shops and cafes alter their menus to cater for Serbian Orthodox Fasting... suddenly, instead of struggling to find authentic Serbian foods, vegans almost get a free ticket to gastronomical exploration in Belgrade. Before I go on, two words of warning - honey is still good to go for fasting Orthodox Serbian (apparently bees don't count as animals), and 'no fish with a backbone' means that they can still eat fish without a backbone - octopus, shellfish etc. But dodging shellfish and honey is so much easier than dodging the normal load of animal carcasses and animal products we usually have to avoid on our vegan travels! Put simply, Serbian Orthodox Lent Rules!!
- no meat;
- no animal products (no dairy, no eggs);
- no fish (with a backbone);
- (they also avoid olive oil and wine, but we don't have to do that, lol)
So what does that mean for vegans that travel to Belgrade? No meat, no animal products and no fish? That's basically vegan rules! Restaurants, pastry shops and cafes alter their menus to cater for Serbian Orthodox Fasting... suddenly, instead of struggling to find authentic Serbian foods, vegans almost get a free ticket to gastronomical exploration in Belgrade. Before I go on, two words of warning - honey is still good to go for fasting Orthodox Serbian (apparently bees don't count as animals), and 'no fish with a backbone' means that they can still eat fish without a backbone - octopus, shellfish etc. But dodging shellfish and honey is so much easier than dodging the normal load of animal carcasses and animal products we usually have to avoid on our vegan travels! Put simply, Serbian Orthodox Lent Rules!!
Lent in Belgrade for Vegans: Pastry Shops
Visiting Belgrade during lent is ideal because you'll have so many more options available to you. You don't have to visit Belgrade then (more on how to visit Belgrade as a vegan when it's not lent below), but I do really recommend you visit Belgrade during lent, here are some things you'll be able to enjoy during this time: pastry shops, for example. Pastry shops are very important in Serbia, with every Belgradian having a fierce loyalty to their favourite one. During Serbian Orthodox Fasting you can go wild, choosing anything with a yellow sticker (vegan-friendly)! This is particularly exciting because you can do 'blind' tastings - pick anything with a yellow sticker, and find out later what it is! (Safe in the knowledge, that whatever it is it doesn't have meat or dairy or eggs in it.)
 |
| Caitlin with our abundance of pastries |
Failing the yellow sticker, simply ask for 'POSNO' options - this is the Serbian word for Lent. It's easy to remember because it looks like porno. Posna and posni and posne are also safe - they're just variations of the word posno.
Restaurants to visit in Belgrade during lent: Skadarlija Street
Skadarlija is a vintage street in Belgrade that's very popular with tourists, it's pretty, it's historical and it has a number of restaurants and cafes. During Serbian Orthodox Fasting, vegans will find lots of yummy vegan options on the menus here (posno). We went into one restaurant that wouldn't have been out of place in Italy (aka the decor was vile). We ordered a bunch of posno options - the waitress was very excited about this, but clearly had her own ideas and came back with dishes that she wanted us to have (all still vegan, and all delicious, don't worry):
Orthodox Lent in Belgrade for Vegans: Cafes
During lent, lots of Belgrade cafes will stock vegan-friendly sweets. We ordered coffees with soy milk, and the waiter brought us over some mini croissants to go with it:
He assured us that they were dairy free (and they were free of charge). It was very thoughtful - and 10 points to him for using initiative! Put simply, if you visit Belgrade during lent you will be overwhelmed with vegan options you just don't normally see when travelling. But even if you don't visit Belgrade during lent, there's still vegan options for you:
Vegan Belgrade After Serbian Orthodox Fasting
I visited Belgrade a month after lent and was shocked to see a whole bunch of POSNO options still in the supermarket:
And this wasn't some hipster / touristy supermarket in the centre of Belgrade, this was right on the outskirts in a sleepy village. That's because posno is for devout Orthodox Christians, not for vegans. But we can enjoy it too, of course, there was a whole host of things! Hummuses, nut butters, cakes, sweets and so much more:
Just look out for the word POSNO (POSNE, POSNA AND POSNI too)
Serbian Lenten Recipes and Meals
Here are some must-try Serbian meals that become vegan-friendly during lent or are accidentally vegan anyway:
Prebranac and Pasulj
Prebranac is a traditional Serbian recipe of baked beans - it's nutritious, it's cheap, it's delicious and has a real home comfort feel to it.
Pasulj is its bean soup counterpart, traditionally made with meat - try and find a POSNO pasulj during lent!
Ajvar
Ajvar is an insanely delicious spread made from red peppers, garlic and chilli. It's known as 'Serbian caviar', and for good reason - it's dope. I was first introduced to ajvar when my Serbian friend gave me some of her Grandmother's home-made stash. It set the bar very high and ruined me for other ajvar. Saying that, the ajvar you can find in pretty much every Serbian restaurant and even the ajvar in jars in the supermarkets are still kings compared to whatever spread your country is famous for. #sorrynotsorry... I mean, apart from Marmite, obviously.
Rakija
The national drink of Serbia is Rakija. Not dissimilar to Hungarian favourite Pálinka, it's super strong, it's horrible, you have to try a home-made one and yes, you absolutely have to try it.
Rakija comes in all different flavours - personally I liked the raspberry, but I've been told the juniper is more traditional (the juniper is rank). Vegan word of caution though, rakija can come in honey flavour and is not vegan.
Vegan Graffiti Belgrade
We were psyched to see so much awesome vegan graffiti in Belgrade:
It was everywhere! The most popular seems to be a pig with a 'go vegan' written on it. But there was a fuck fur fox, a cute yellow go vegan chick and a cow.
Wrap Up: Belgrade Vegan Guide
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Belgrade, what it lacks in traditional beauty it more than makes up for with friendly locals, very few tourists and the most amazing pastries I've had in my life. Travelling to Belgrade as a vegan isn't impossible, and if you happen to travel during Serbian Orthodox Fasting, it can turn out to be an absolute delight. Have you been to Belgrade? Would you like to go? Let me know in the comments below! [Want more of Eastern Europe? Try my Vegan Warsaw Guide] Also: someone contacted us from Serbia for some advice so we made a video about it - enjoy :)
