Ajvar is a popular Balkan’s vegetable spread based on roasted red peppers. Having come from the same region, we were given the task to photograph this traditional vegetarian spread for BBC Travel.

“Similar to how hummus is viewed in the Arab world, practically every Balkan country claims ajvar as its own. Dua Lipa, a British singer of Kosovo origin, referred to ajvar as an Albanian dish in a 2020 interview, which infuriated some Serbians who insist that ajvar is Serbian, which in turn upset some citizens of North Macedonia who say it belongs to them.” wrote Lidija Pisker for the article. Click here to see the original article.

It was required from us to show the cooking process. Having no previous experience with ajvar, besides enjoying it, we shamefully had to research how to make it in small scale. Admittedly, we too were lost among all the recipe variations. After picking one, we finally got to work and got our hands dirty, truly dirty since it is a messy affair making ajvar. The whole thing is quite tedious, so it is no wonder when someone gifts a jar of homemade ajvar it is taken as they gifted a jar of gold.

Finally, after all the preparation and photographing were done, we got to have a taste of our very first jar of ajvar. It is truly no wonder that to this day “the countries that emerged from the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s still long to prove that what used to be a common good is exclusively its own”.