Zlatko Marinović - Noštromo: Some foods will remain only in our memory

Croatian Cuisine is the new cook book by Zlatko Marinović (66), the owner and chef of the legendary restaurant Noštromo, in Split. The chef made an exclusive presentation of his book at the gala dinner on the occasion of the promotion of the Croatian edition of the Gault&Millau 2024 guide in Zagreb. It is about 300 pages that sublimate the Croatian gastronomic culture, the life style, the peculiarities of all the Croatian regions, a whole bunch of recipes and stories that make the book even more interesting. Its professional value is also due to the fact that the author, who participated in the Culinary Olympics, is an International culinary judge and a chef with a wide teaching experience. In 2021 he won the Gault&Millau Croatia Trophy of the modern traditional cuisine. Written in English, the book is intended to promote the Croatian gastronomy around the world.

How long did you work on it?
I started in 2018, but the whole project was delayed by a series of unfortunate circumstances, among them COVID. I wanted it to be a serious book, with 300 pages and a large format, so that the international audience will get a complete and professional insight into our gastronomy. It was created in collaboration with renowned Croatian food experts - Veljko Barbieri, Borislav Šimenc, prof. Ph.D. Radovan Bužančić and journalist Željko Žutelija. The design is by Damir Fabijanić and the translation in English by Jagoda Bush, a journalist based in Washington. In addition to numerous photos, there is also my portrait painted by Charles Bilich and other pictures by renowned Croatian artists.

Where can we buy the book?
It will be promoted in the USA: from New York and Washington and beyond, with the help of some prominent Croatians who live there and who asked for it. Some promotions should also be agreed with our embassies. We will do our best to make it available through Amazon and in Croatian bookstores.

One part of the book is dedicated to the history of gastronomy and it has a lot of interesting stories like the one about the Roman Emperor Diocletian who adored ravioli with the cabbage of his own garden?
The historical periods are known, but no one has connected them with gastronomy. In one of the most interesting museums in Europe - The Krapina Neanderthal Museum – we have a proof that 130,000 years ago the Krapina Neanderthal man lived in a community and roasted meat on fire. Why wouldn't people find out that here we have the oldest cook in the world? As well as the fact that the Vučedol culture that flourished between 3000 and 2200 BC in Syrmia and Eastern Slavonia on the right bank of the Danube river, is associated with fiš – paprikaš (fish-paprikash), one of the traditional dishes from that region. There is a saying that refers to Diocletian when he was about to become Emperor: "If they knew what kind of cabbage I have here in Salona, they would never called me back to return to Rome." We cannot know for sure whether he really loved ravioli with cabbage, but that is our interpretation of the dish. Our culinary heritage is also the Pope’s brudet (sort of bouillabaisse) and the cake from the island of Rab whose recipe dates back to the year 1177.

But you also give the recipes for some traditional but forgotten dishes such as the Nona's kanavača, the Špaleta on wine, the Kvarner's batuda and the Hrapočuša from Dol.
I wanted to cover all of Croatia, from the land to the sea, but we could do much more since we have a great culinary tradition.

In your book you mention some lesser-known fish such as ruffe, painted cumber, meagre, swordfish: since you dive, have you seen and prepared all of them?
All the mentioned food in Croatian Cuisine has passed through my hands and my kitchen - from fish, meat, herbs and seaweed. We even made seaweed brandy. The ruffe, for example, is not a culinary valuable fish, but it is significant when it comes to tradition. As well as some fish from the Metković region, such as butterfish, which appear in a very short period and can only be caught at that time. The same is with the herbs that I mention. Together with the information how to use them in the kitchen, I talk also about their benefits for our health.

You have not forgotten the famous Skradin’s risotto.
For the Skradin’s risotto you must cook for 14 hours the veal, the beef and the rooster until it becomes like a gelatine. The spices give it a fantastic taste, making it a true gastronomic pleasure.

Are the roots and the tradition important to you?
The roots and the tradition are important to everyone. We are constantly searching for the tastes and smells of our childhood. The beginning of gastronomy is the table and gathering around it. That's how we lived. Every day I waited for my father to come back from work at 2 pm so that the family could have the lunch. On Sundays the lunch was at 12:30 pm, a little richer than during the week. There was always s soup, some meat and bread on the table. My mother would quickly bake a strudel or some kind of pie...Today all this is a bit lost. We can buy everything, money brought us everything, but took that part of our soul. Today gastronomy is fashion, and fashion is money. I can buy a lobster from France or cherries from Chile, but I cannot get the Adriatic lobster during the summer season because of the hunting closed season. My restaurant is located in Split, by the fish market. I can see every day that we are slowly losing it, because more and more fish are imported. We try to cooperate with fishermen and farmers, we have a good story, but ultimately we are losing the war with the big importers. Some foods will remain only in our memory.

How significant is the Croatian gastronomy on the culinary map of the world?
We are good, we follow the trends, we educate ourselves, we follow and, unfortunately, we copy. We need to be ourselves, to be authentic, to go forward, step out and work with our foods.