Vegetarian travelers to Croatia, rejoice! The monotonous days of pasta-grilled-cheese-risotto routine are over. If you manage to find soparnik, you will fall in love with it, as many meat eaters did. It’s a very special and rare snack dating back to the Middle Ages, found traditionally in Dalmatian region of Poljica. Nowadays there’s been a slow but steady revival of this ancient dish, and there’s even a festival dedicated to soparnik. It’s listed as Croatian non-material heritage.

Basically, it’s made of two layers of thin crusty dough, similar like in focaccia, filled with Swiss chard, onions, garlic and olive oil, sprinkled with chopped almonds. Traditionally it is baked on wood plates over open fire.

You can find it in some restaurants in Split and its surroundings, on Split central market, but the easiest way is to go to Keko bakery in the centre of Split and say no to pizza slices and yes to soparnik!