Partners in Palačinki: Balkan Chefs Team Up for World Record

A Balkan pancake or crepe known as a palačinki. Wikimedia Commons.

In an unprecedented feat of endurance, camaraderie, and cooking flour, 140 Balkan chefs cranked out a record-breaking 14,186 pancakes in a mere eight hours at Sarajevo’s 40th International Tourism Festival on October 24. Their effort shattered the previous Guinness World Record and showcased an illustrious regional cuisine.

The new record usurps the current pancake champions in Moscow, who managed 12,716 flapjacks in the same amount of time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The ex-record holders only held onto the accolade for a year and a half.

The cooks in question hailed from Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovenia, setting aside domestic and intraregional tensions to craft culinary masterpieces that speak to the cooks’—and their native countries’—common, Eastern European history. The pancake, better known as palačinki in Bosnia, originated centuries ago in Austria and Bavaria as a sweet or savory delicacy to be enjoyed at all times of the day and later became popular in the Balkans.

While most palačinki require small quantities of ingredients, this particular batch called for 300 liters of oil, 400 liters of milk, and 600 kilograms of wheat flour.

Rather than squandering these ingredients solely for the sake of a record, Bosnian charity organization Pomozi.ba partnered with the festival to distribute the food among the neediest people in Bosnia, including the elderly, impoverished children, orphans, and migrants entering the European Union.

These palačinki were only one of the dozens of regional delicacies on display at the Sarajevo Tourism Festival. This year in particular, the three-day festival placed a particular emphasis on encouraging gastro-tourism in Bosnia. Confectionary competitions and bartending contests called in crowds to support the Association of Chefs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Association of Bartenders in Sarajevo.

Nermin Hodzic, head of the Chefs Association, commented on the spirit of the gathering, saying, “We wanted to draw attention to Bosnia and Herzegovina and its new generation of cooks, although it has to be added that this would not have been possible without the help of the older colleagues and those who came from abroad.”

Yet Bosnia and Herzegovina holds more in store for international tourists than just palate-pleasers and palačinki. The festival organizers paint the country as a tourist destination, saying, “Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very interesting tourist destination thanks to its geographical position, exceptional natural beauty, cultural and historical heritage, and favorable climate conditions.”