Serbian Dish Muckalica to be Available in Japanese Stores from December

On December 3, the prepared Serbian dish muckalica, a stew made of barbecued meat and vegetables, will appear in Japanese supermarkets and other food stores. This is the first time that a Serbian national dish is sold at prepared food departments in Japan, writes Japanorama.

The instant Serbian muckalica dish was designed by a group of four Japanese nationals who love Serbia, its history and culture and who promote the country through the My Serbia project. The author and the initiator of the project is Akiko Koga, an artist-photographer, who has visited Serbia on several occasions. She has regularly promoted Serbia through elegantly conceived exhibitions of her own photographs, but also through articles and items that present the Serbian culture.

The prepared muckalica dish was produced by the company Matsubara Foods from the Higashi-ku ward of the city of Fukuoka. A tastefully packaged product, with a beautifully designed package featuring the dish’s name in Japanese and Serbian (in both the Cyrillic and Latin scripts), muckalica is currently available in a portion for one person (180 gr), and the packaging says that this dish “made of peppers with pork meat” is promoted in honor of the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Serbia.

The anniversary will be marked in 2022 with a range of events, marking the exchanging of official letters between the then Japanese emperor, Mutsuhito (posthumously named Meiji), and the then king of Serbia, Milan Obrenovic.

In the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, when Japanese citizens are not able to visit Serbia, the My Serbia group and Matsubara Foods wanted to enable Japanese citizens to taste the traditional Serbian dish that is one of the most popular ones among Japanese tourists who have visited Serbia. In the announcement on the occasion of the launching of the Serbian muckalica product in Japan, the authors of the project express hope that this move will make the friendly relations between Japan and Serbia even closer.

Matsubara Foods

Akiko Koga

Higashi ku

Fukuoka

My Serbia

Serbian mućkalica dish

Serbian national dish

prepared food

diplomatic relations between Japan and Serbia