Christmas Eve traditions in Split - a lot of cod.
Over five thousand servings of traditional Christmas cod were distributed today at noon to numerous residents of Split who had gathered in front of the stands next to Prokurative. Cooks and volunteers who were preparing the servings were joined by Split Mayor Ivo Baldasar and Split-Dalmatia County Prefect Zlatko Ževrnja, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on December 24, 2015.
"To all my fellow citizens, I wish a peaceful and Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year, and above all, to have jobs, be healthy and have a happy family", Baldasar said. A similar message was sent by Ževrnja as well, who pointed out that this was indeed a beautiful tradition in the city, which citizens appreciated more and more these days due to difficult economic situation. "I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. In the new year, I wish to everyone a lot of happiness, health and well being, and for the next year to be better than the last one", the Prefect said.
This is the eleventh year that the City, the County and the Association of Chefs of Mediterranean and European Regions organize this event on Christmas Eve. In a 2.6 metre pot, which has been used since the first year, 20 chefs prepared 200 kilograms of cod and 700 kilograms of potatoes according to traditional recipes. Željko Neven Bremec, president of the Association of Chefs, who led the cooking proceedings along with vice-president Hrvoje Zirojević, said that the whole procedure started a few weeks ago. "Of course, we had to soak, clean and cook the cod. In addition to the cod and potatoes, we used a lot of garlic, onions, parsley, peeled tomatoes and wine. The food was cooked for three hours, and this year we added a little wine and hot peppers in order to get a really great stew", Bremec said.
All the servings were distributed within 15 minutes, thanks to the efforts of volunteers from the MI Association Volunteer Centre, students of high schools from Split and members of other charity associations. The citizens seem to enjoy the meal. "Cod is really great, I hope they will prepare it like this next year as well. I wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the chefs", said a senior citizen who was among the first to get his serving of Christmas cod.
