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The Skopje basket
Each week, our correspondent visits the same shop to buy five of the staple items found in the Skopje shopping basket.
The price rises and falls will be tracked and contribute to the World Food Price Index.
- Bread (1 loaf)
- Milk (1L)
- Cooking sunflower oil (1L
- Potatoes (1kg)
- Short grain rice (1kg)
Nick Thorpe in Skopje writes:
Think Macedonia and you may think Macedonian salad - a fruit salad much favoured around the world but not in its alleged country of origin. It is often used to mean a mish-mash of unrelated things - not a great compliment to the chef.
But food is ever a consolation to a people caught between a rock and a hard place - Greek hostility to their use of the name 'Macedonia' which the Greeks also claim, Albanian suspicion over their treatment of the large Albanian minority, and Serb anger over their recognition of the independence of Kosovo. The latest US compromise proposal for a new name is 'The Republic of North Macedonia.'
National rivalries apart, the peoples of south-east Europe share similar tastes. And local red wine and tobacco address the stresses of everyday life.
Staples of Macedonian cuisine include lamb, beef, chicken and pork dishes, especially cooked over charcoal, and excellent vegetarian staples: stuffed peppers, aubergine, tomatoes, and potato dishes. There are also a wide range of salads. The raw ingredients are often still bought in open markets, from the people who grew them.
The Balkan influence includes 'ajvar', a delicious mix of aubergine, garlic, onion, olive oil, paprika, lemon juice and parsley, usually spread on bread, and kajmak, a soft, salty cheese.
Fish eaters will travel far to savour a fresh Ohrid trout.
In our graph, only the potatoes have gone through the kitchen roof.
The graph
