Browse for the Best

A new place to get to know all the organic products of Serbia

            Since mid February, Belgraders and all of their guests from abroad have a new place to explore organic and handmade products from all of Serbia. This place is the “DomaCi duCan” (“Domestic Shop”) situated in one of the towers of Zeleni venac, Belgrade’s most central green market - a place well chosen for its location, perfectly suitable for businesspeople and tourists alike. Despite its name, “DomaCi duCan” is not a classic shop but an exhibition area since it stores hundreds of various products, most of which are specimens that can be ordered only through the shop or by direct contact with the producers.

On its opening day the shop was visited by the (now already former) minister of agriculture SaSa Dragin whose office stands behind the project “Natural from Serbia” that promotes organic agriculture and the initiatives of small producers around the country, and the mayor of Belgrade Dragan Djilas who worked on providing the location for the shop. Both of them pointed out that Serbia is well known for its tasty, naturally grown food and that it has great potential in organic agriculture, one of the fastest growing businesses in the world.

            In this specific gallery you can find almost all of the agricultural artifacts whose expiry dates allow them to be stocked on shelves. Most of them are edible but there are some handicrafts sold as well, such as icons, pictures by naïve painters, hand woven clothes, etc. Myriads of honey, jams, preserves, herbal teas, hams, cereals, rakijas and wines, many of which you have never heard of before (let’s just mention the organic blackberry rakija), predominate on the nicely designed shelves where they are arranged by categories.

            This being said, yours truly has to note that on three occasions in last few weeks that I passed by the shop, it was always closed, to the disappointment of the people who were clearly interested in taking a closer look. Neither was there any notice informing customers why the shop was closed or what are its working hours. It is all very nice that a place like this has been opened but it is also crucial that it functions regularly so that both ordinary people and those interested in doing business here could get used to its presence and use it as a regular place for learning about Serbia’s organic potential or do their business here.