All those who visit Herzegovina, apart from the famous wine roads, can also embark on the Cheese and Honey Trail.
The idea of women from the Slow Food Trebinje organization and the “Lux Travel” tourist agency from Trebinje, to share the centuries-old tradition of Trebinje’s gourmet magic and its neighboring municipalities with tourists, has taken shape through their project.
With 16 households on the Cheese and Honey Trail, guests will be able to experience the true charm of Herzegovina, which, through this project, strives to ensure that the youth of this region live from their work.
Ivo Andrić wrote about Herzegovina that it is “a land with a lot of stones, but little of everything else, yet what it yields is nourishing and noble.” About the people of this region, he said they are reasonable, shaped by the water and air of the region.
The idea of women from the Slow Food Trebinje organization and the “Lux Travel” tourist agency from Trebinje, to share the centuries-old tradition of Trebinje’s gourmet magic and its neighboring municipalities with tourists, has taken shape through their project.
With 16 households on the Cheese and Honey Trail, guests will be able to experience the true charm of Herzegovina, which, through this project, strives to ensure that the youth of this region live from their work.
Ivo Andrić wrote about Herzegovina that it is “a land with a lot of stones, but little of everything else, yet what it yields is nourishing and noble.” About the people of this region, he said they are reasonable, shaped by the water and air of the region.
This is demonstrated by the example of the “Cheese and Honey Trail”.
The main aim of sharing this gourmet magic with everyone and preserving a heritage built over centuries was one of the guiding ideas of this project, primarily funded USAID’s Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Turizam).
Gordana Radovanović, the project manager of Slow Food Trebinje, which, together with the “Lux Travel” agency from Trebinje, is implementing this project, says:
“Long ago, working on different agricultural projects, visiting small village producers in Herzegovina, we realized that the tradition of some of our cheeses and the entire production process is a special food heritage, linked with other unique heritages like the nomadic lifestyle of cheese producers, and particular rural architecture accompanying this legacy. We understood it’s a story of our culture and history that is still alive today and needs to be shared with the world.”
She notes that the cheese, made in the same way since the Middle Ages, is listed on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s preliminary intangible cultural heritage list. The reactions of these cheese producers were an additional incentive to start working on the Cheese and Honey Trail.
“After that, we were sure we wanted to tell this story. Cheese and honey in Herzegovina are combined in ‘Cicvara with honey’, and given the quality of both products coming from the rich biodiversity of the Dinaric pastures, we envisioned this to be the story of the ‘Honey and Cheese Trail’ connecting small producers in the region we know best,” she says.
The project includes the city of Trebinje and five other municipalities of Eastern Herzegovina: Bileća, Gacko, Nevesinje, Berkovići, and Ljubinje.
On this territory, 16 producers, or households, are included in the Cheese and Honey Trail, all willing to share what they offer to their households with everyone visiting Herzegovina.
Among the households, Radovanović proudly points out there are two nomadic ones.
These households have wooden huts used by shepherds during grazing periods in the Volujak and Morine regions. The families move there from May to October, a highland often referred to as the “European Tibet.”
It should be noted that these are relatively small households that had not operated in this way before. The idea of this project gave them the necessary skills and means to share their homes with all those who wish to experience Herzegovina in its full glory.
As part of the project, elements for the catering offer were secured, the narrative of the trail was designed with all detailed data about products and cultural heritage, and a series of training sessions aimed to assist the households in promoting their offers.
“Among other things, the trail’s logo and special labels for each product have been designed, equipment for welcoming guests has been provided, training in rural tourism and other training, such as digital marketing and storytelling, as well as special training for licensed tour guides in Trebinje,” says Milica Kovačević, project manager of the “Lux travel” agency from Trebinje.
The project aims to enrich Herzegovina’s tourist offer and strengthen small businesses. In an area known for youth emigration, low employment rates, and other issues, this is of undeniable importance.
Our interviewees also emphasize the timeless value of the idea of combining love for Herzegovina, nature, and food into this trail. As they pointed out, food is an essential part of the culture and identity of the people of this region.
Guardians of this culture are precisely the owners of the households and their families, who, in this way, received a kind of recognition for all their work, but also an opportunity for the secrets of producing various types of cheeses and honey to continue.
“Usually, we emphasize language and faith as the most important parts of a nation’s identity and culture. A nation’s food is an extremely important part of its culture. We believe that by developing tourism in our rural areas of beautiful nature and unique architectural heritage, in the form of huts, old bridges like the Sheep’s Bridge, mills, threshing floors, and dry stone walls, we can attract tourists from all over the world and give hope and vision to our young people that such a form of tourism is not only possible but also the key to preserving hearths and traditions. The economic calculation will come if we inspire all guardians of tradition, whether they are paid to promote it through cultural institutions or those who preserve it by birth and pass it down from generation to generation,” says Radovanović.
In the end, the Honey and Cheese Trail, which you can also virtually visit through the provided link, remains a testament and a source of pride for all the young people of this region. To preserve tradition, to put their personal touch on it, and to have someone to pass it on to.
“We need to do everything to make our young producer of traditional products, such as clotted cream from sheep’s skin or sage and heather honey, feel proud of preserving this tradition and conveying the story to guests and tourists who want to hear and see such stories,” concludes our interviewee.
Text Author: Mladen Lukić
This story has been written thanks to the generous support of the American people through the “Snaga lokalnog” program of the United States Agency for International Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina (USAID). The author and the “Network for Peacebuilding” are solely responsible for the content of the story. The views expressed in the story do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
