Do buns from Kiseljak deserve to be on the UNESCO list of intangible assets? If you ask the locals of this town, they certainly think they deserve it, buns, they say, are everywhere, only in Kiseljak there are sourdough buns from Kiseljak. Due to the popularity of bread, the Kiseljak Municipality plans to launch an initiative to be included in the list of world intangible assets.
With more or less cream, in half or quarters, sourdough buns are always delicious. The key is in the mineral water, which they do not buy in Kiseljak, but use spring mineral water.
“Spring water is used, we have a spring, we bring water, there are no germs, we use yeast, kajmak is homemade, before the war Užice was used, and now we use kajmak from Fojnica”, explains Amir Agić from the Agić bakery, N1 reports.
“We put 100 grams, 150, double, as anyone wants. We grant all wishes, but customers usually like fuller, that it is a little fatter”, explains Božana Čalaga, from the Fijaker bakery.
He also emphasizes that the cakes reach far from this small town in central Bosnia.
“And for Germany and Austria, wherever our customers are going – they bring our buns with them. It means that there is something special in our buns”, adds Božana Čalaga.
Bakeries Fijaker and Agić have a tradition, but there are more and more bakeries selling this product. The fact that there is a wooden stove in the Agić bakery only once a year speaks volumes about the fact that there is work to be done.
“For the new year, we did not work for two days and the stove cooled down, so we used the opportunity to renew and clean it, otherwise we do not turn it off all year round,” Amir Agić emphasizes.
It is planned to launch an initiative that would include the cakes on the UNESCO list
“We are glad that both neighbors and tourists recognize this. We planned to launch an initiative and talk with the Federal Ministry of Culture to try to put our buns on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage”, said Irena Mrnjavac, representative of the Kiseljak Municipality.
Passers-by buy it very gladly, the diaspora, but also residents of Kiseljak, who trust traditional bakeries more than their art, so they think they deserve to be on the UNESCO list.
“Kiseljak buns are only available in Kiseljak, they are only made there, and that is why they are worth it,” emphasizes one local woman.
“Why, because it’s a tradition. We are not here often, but whenever we come, we eat”, points out one of the interviewees.
“How do you know when Kiseljak is good, when it is not? When it is hot, fierce, when it has its own taste, acidity is good, and when it is bland, then it is half water”, explained a resident of Kiseljak.
The good news is that Kiseljak buns have not become more expensive yet. Since 2008, they cost 2.5 BAM.
