North Macedonia

Macedonia has a mystique. Maybe it comes from the story of the mysterious Macedonian who appears in Paul’s dream in the biblical book of Acts or from the fictionalized biography I read as a teen of Alexander the Great’s adolescence as he was taught by Aristotle. Maybe it comes from their position at a crossroads between Greece and the Balkans; maybe from the confusion between the former Yugoslavia, which contained what is now North Macedonia, and the former Soviet Union, which did not; and maybe because it is just so hard to find food from Macedonia.

Macedonian meals may be hard to find, but the two I have had were memorable. I ate the first one with Vonnett and Kevin at Café Athena in San Diego. This is a Greek restaurant, but in searching Yelp for a Macedonian restaurant anywhere in California, this came up because someone had complemented the Macedonian Sampler. I called the restaurant in June 2020, first to see if they were open and second to see if they still had the Macedonian Sampler. Sergio told me they hadn't had it on the menu for five years, but that they could recreate it for me. They put together a beautiful and delicious plate with spanakopita, bourekia (filo filled with lamb), chicken and beef kabobs with tzatziki, ratatouille, and rice. Besides the specifically Macedonian food, we ordered yalandji (vegetarian stuffed grapeleaves) for an appetizer. Vonnett had the chicken couscous and even found a beer being served from Macedonia. Kevin had the imam bayildi (vegetarian stuffed eggplant). We split the galacto-boureko for dessert (custard in filo with orange zest and rose water syrup served hot). Everything was delicious, the service was great, and we felt safe with the practices put in place for social distancing in this time when no one knew quite what was going on or what would happen next with COVID. That was the Macedonian meal from the Greek side.

From the Balkan side, in October, my parents and I stopped at Aria Market and Bakery in Alameda. Because they have items from all over the Balkans, I asked the shop owner for something specifically Macedonian and she pointed me to Mama's Roasted Pepper Spread, one of the several kinds of ajvar available. We picnicked on the super thick chewy pita bread and ajvar outside the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park on our way to a sandcastle building contest on Ocean Beach. That filled us up enough that we saved the spinach pies for supper with lentil soup to which I added more ajvar. The spinach pies were unique in that the spinach mixture was rolled up inside a tube of dough and twisted into a spiral. I enjoyed all the Macedonian food that I have tried and I’m ready to dive in and try even more including some of the many recipes on this site: https://www.macedoniancuisine.com/p/blog-page.html

I haven’t been able to track down the biography of Alexander the Great that I read as a teen, but there are many other options for catching up on Alexander and his father Philip, including:

· The Anabasis of Alexander: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46976

· The Khan Academy review of Alexander’s history starting with Philip: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/alexander-the-great/v/philip-of-macedon-unifies-greece

· The Great Courses on Kanopy which include “Philip of Macedon: Architect of Empire” (Episode 19 of History of the Ancient World), “197 B.C. Cynoscephalae—Legion vs. Phalanx” (Episode 5 of The Decisive Battles of World History), “Alexander's Conquests and Hellenism” (Episode 20 of The Big History of Civilizations), and “Conspiracy! Murder of Philip II” (Episode 6 of Living History)

· The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great (but now we have traveled far from Macedonia) on DisneyPlus

To get a more recent picture of Macedonia, I watched Honeyland on Hulu. It doesn't seem like a documentary because there is no voice over and the people interact naturally, more like a movie. The photography is beautiful, and it shows so many aspects of Macedonia. Kanopy has two more documentaries that touch on Macedonia, Whose Is This Song? and Valentina: Life in a Roma Neighborhood in Macedonia.

When I moved to literature, poetry, art, and music, I enjoyed:

· A summary of recent Macedonian literature and link to five works from contemporary Macedonian writers: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/change-is-the-only-constant-writing-from-macedonia

· several poems by Blaže Koneski, including “Epistle.” https://www.poemist.com/blaze-koneski/epistle

· an art collection by Petar Mazev: https://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/mazev.php

· Simon Trpčeski, who has collaborated with many orchestras all over the world. Here, he discusses Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UIQ2KQkfBw

· Simon Trpčeski again, this time playing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0aj3yfGXXQ

Macedonia comes highly recommended by Barb who said her motorcycle trip there was exciting and beautiful. Some great places to visit in Macedonia are here https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-macedonia/ and yes, I would love to go! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Macedonia and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Milana Jovanov https://unsplash.com/photos/luh7LSmn2vM