- Title: Testicle culinary delights are served up at contest in Serbia
- Date: 29th August 2021
- Summary: LUNJEVICA, GORNJI MILANOVAC, SERBIA (AUGUST 28, 2021) (REUTERS) DRONE VIEW OF CLEARING AND STALLS, LOCAL FOLK MUSIC IN BACKGROUND MAN COOKING TESTICLES IN CAULDRON TESTICLES ON WOODEN PLATES, READY FOR COOKING (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) ORGANISER, JOVANA EROVIC, SAYING: "This idea is unique in the world. (This is) a culinary manifestation where testicles are cooked, unique in the word, people from all sides attend to compete in making dishes of testicles." VARIOUS OF CAULDRONS, TABLES, WOODEN PLATES WITH TESTICLES (SOUNDBITE) (English) VISITOR, PETER ATKINSON FROM ENGLAND, SAYING: "It's just a wonderful experience, you are not going to find this anywhere else in the world. And all these people, families, groups are out, cooking all together, later - probably after a couple of drinks - will have a walk around, meet someone, and greet them, and they'll all come round here and possibly meet us as well. It's a very social occasion. As I say I've never experienced anything like this before." CAULDRON WITH TESTICLE GOULASH VARIOUS OF MAN STIRRING TESTICLE GOULASH IN CAULDRON (SOUNDBITE) (English) VISITOR, RALLY BRUS FROM USA, SAYING: "It depends on who prepares it. Some of it is not so good, let's be honest. Some of the preparation is not so good. But when it's made well - these Germans - I think they will do it very well, they're gonna make a sausage with 'muda' (testicles) in the sausage. I know it'll be fantastic." WOODEN PLATES WITH TESTICLES (SOUNDBITE) (English), OLLY (WITH BEARD AND SUNGLASSES) AND JULIUS FROM GERMANY, SAYING: OLLY: "We're doing a German speciality - sausages with sauerkraut and potato mash." JULIUS: "It's called 'bratwurst' in Germany." OLLY: "The wurst, the wurst-balls." BOTH LAUGHING MAN COOKING TESTICLES IN CAULDRON MEAT CUT ON PLATE VARIOUS OF WOMAN CHOPPING VEGETABLES ON CAR TRUNK MAN COOKING IN CAULDRON, VISITORS PASSING BY VARIOUS OF TESTICLES BEING COOKED IN CAULDRONS, FOLK MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN TENT, CAULDRON IN FRONT OF TENT, MINI MODEL OF CAULDRON ON TABLE MAN STIRRING TESTICLE GOULASH IN CAULDRON WOODEN PLATE WITH TESTICLES DRONE VIEW OF CLEARING WITH STALLS
- Embargoed: 12th September 2021 08:48
- Keywords: CEE contest cooking oddly testicles
- Location: LUNJEVICA, GORNJI MILANOVAC, SERBIA
- City: LUNJEVICA, GORNJI MILANOVAC, SERBIA
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: Europe,Human Interest/Brights/Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001ESC18AH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of cooking enthusiasts gathered for the 17th time in the small village of Lunjevica near Gornji Milanovac in central Serbia, to test their chef skills in preparing various dishes with animal testicles as the star ingredient.
The traditional testicle cooking championship is held annually on the last weekend each August, hosting the veterans in this somewhat exotic discipline as well as amateur chefs from across the globe.
"This idea is unique in the world," says Jovana Erovic, the organiser of this indeed one-of-the-kind culinary manifestation featuring goulash, sausages even pastas and pizzas made predominantly of bull, boar and ostrich testicles.
Peter Atkinson, an English gentleman and gourmet visiting the festival, says it is a "very social occasion" that gathers together families and groups of people that cook together.
"It's just a wonderful experience, you are not going to find this anywhere else in the world," said Peter, obviously enjoying the event that attracted many foreign visitors in spite of corona-related restrictions.
One of them is Rally Brus from the USA who appears to be a connoisseur.
"It depends on who prepares it. Some of it is not so good, let's be honest. But when it's made well...," says Rally pointing at the German chef team - Olly and Julius - preparing their speciality - a 'bratwurst' with testicles.
Amidst sizzling cauldrons and overwhelmed by local folk music played loudly, visitors can get the genuine taste of the Serbian and Balkans cuisine charm, all spiced up with local herbs, plenty of vegetables and traditional relaxed weekend slow-food mood and culture.
The organisers who in 2004 launched the event branded as 'Mud®ijada'- a skillful wordplay incorporating Serbian slang words for testicles and wisdom competition - hope to host many more guests and competitors next year, as the pandemic prevented the usual thousands to attend.
Meanwhile, the cauldrons keep sizzling over a wood fire, keeping the chef secrets of how to prepare the best testicles in the world.
(Production: Branko Filipovic, Kinda Makieh, Paul Warren, Tara Oakes) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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