Eating Dalmatia: food and wine around Split

A Mediterranean kitchen with its own accent

Dalmatian cooking is built on a simple foundation: fresh fish, olive oil, garlic, herbs, vegetables and good wine. It shares a lot with Italian and wider Mediterranean traditions, reflecting centuries of trade and shared history across the Adriatic, but it has dishes and rituals that are entirely its own.

In Split, you can eat this food everywhere from smart seafront restaurants to tiny family-run konobas tucked into the lanes of the old town and the neighbourhoods behind it.

Dishes to look for

Grilled fish, usually sold by weight and served with blitva, a side of chard and potatoes dressed in olive oil and garlic, is the classic coastal meal. Black risotto, coloured with cuttlefish ink, is another favourite. Brudet is a rich fish stew traditionally eaten with polenta.

Pašticada is a festive dish of beef slowly braised in a sweet and sour sauce with wine, prunes and spices, served with gnocchi. Allow time for it; good versions take a day or more to prepare, and some restaurants only make it on certain days.

The ritual of peka

Peka refers both to a method and a dish. Meat or octopus is placed with potatoes and vegetables in a heavy dish, covered with a bell-shaped iron lid and buried under hot embers for a few hours. The result is tender, smoky and deeply flavoured.

Because it takes so long, peka usually has to be ordered in advance, often a day before. Rural konobas in the hills behind Split and on the islands are the best places to try it.

Island wines and olive oil

Dalmatia produces distinctive wines from native grapes. Plavac Mali, a robust red grown on steep, sun-baked slopes, is the best known, and it is related to the grape that became famous in California as Zinfandel. Islands such as Brač, Hvar, Vis and Korčula each have their own local varieties and styles, including crisp whites that go perfectly with seafood.

Olive oil is just as important. Many families produce their own, and buying a bottle from a small producer is one of the best souvenirs you can take home.

Markets and snacks

Split's green market, just outside the palace walls, sells fruit, vegetables, cheese, dried figs and lavender, while the fish market nearby is a lively spectacle in the morning. For a quick bite, look out for soparnik, a thin pie filled with chard that is a speciality of the area just south of the city, and fritule, small sweet doughnuts sold around holidays.

Mealtimes follow a relaxed coastal rhythm. Lunch is often long and late, and dinner rarely starts early in summer. Many locals stop mid-morning for marenda, a hearty brunch-style snack that might be fish stew, tripe or a simple plate of sardines with bread, served cheaply in workers' taverns.

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