Cooking with Nothing: War Cuisine in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992-1995

• Authors: Slavková Markéta

Title variants

CS

Vaříme z ničeho: Válečné stravování v Bosně a Hercegovině mezi lety 1992–1995

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

This article elaborates on the topic of food in the context of an armed conflict. It asks what happens to the social actor and his/hers „everyday bread“ in the conditions of extreme hunger and overall material scarcity? Using the example of eating practices during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s the author explores the issue of everyday subsistence strategies during the radical structural changes. She developes a thesis, that the ability of improvisation and the knowledge of the natural environment in the time of crises, significantly increases a chance of survival. Moreover, She also argues that in some situations food can be used as a tool of power and a marker of social exclusion. In extreme cases, targeted groups and individuals can be intentionally starved out. These research conclusions are based on author‘s longterm ethnographic and historical research in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the town of Srebrenica and Sarajevo.

Keywords

EN

Anthropology of food; everyday eating practices; hunger; war; Srebrenica; Sarajevo; Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Publisher: The National Institute of Folk Culture
• Journal: Národopisná revue (Journal of Ethnology)
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 225 - 235

Contributors

author

Slavková Markéta