Those who don’t know their neighbours across the border and feel a bit peckish should head for Mikulov at the end of July.

The eleventh edition of the Cultures of Podyjí festival which is held from 23 to 25 July this year, offers a series of concerts, exhibitions, but mainly of culinary specialities of the various minorities living in Mikulov.

More than twenty different nationalities have come to settle in Mikulov. When those who organise the festival tried to find the best way of introducing them eleven years ago, they put their money on music, their traditions but mainly their cuisine. Their bet paid off. The festival is visited by thousands of people every year.

Mikulov – home to everybody or nobody
“The Podyjí region is one of the oldest inhabited parts of Europe. In ten thousand years of history many tribes and cultures left their footprints here. Today’s Podyjí lacks in many places its original inhabitants. The vacuum left by those who were displaced was filled in by people who have come from many parts of the world. Some came many years ago, some a few years ago, some last week. Nobody can say Mikulov is only their home town. They are either all at home here or nobody is,” the organisers of the festival say.

The aim of this festival is to spread tolerance among various ethnic groups and minorities. Mikulov is an ideal place to do this as there are fourteen different nationalities living in one single street, from Americans, Vietnamese to Serbs.

All the cultures have their own story and they are all welcome in Mikulov. An English family came here and opened a small shop, the Slovakians married and settled here and the Vietnamese just came to find a place to live.

In the past the Podyjí region and Mikulov especially were a place where many different cultures prospered. And so it continues in the same spirit. “We hope that the generosity, tolerance and variety which have their origins in this region didn’t disappear with its former inhabitants.” say the members of the Podyjí society that organises the festival.

Both exotic cuisine and schnitzels will be on the menu
It is the eleventh edition of the festival this year. It opens on Friday with a private view of an art exhibition and with a preview of traditional folk groups Sousedé which presents various local folk groups with guests from Slovakia and Austria. On Saturday, Mikulov square comes alive with different stalls that serve as provisional kitchens.

There is a variety of tastes and smells. Different specialities will be presented by American, Arabic, Armenian and Bulgarian cuisines. There will be Italian, Slovakian, Austrian, Mongolian and Romanian authentic dishes. You can taste Serbian, Caucasian, Ukrainian and Viennese cuisines. After entering the square, one will be tempted by many dishes from traditional Slovakian soups and Russian sweets to spicier Hungarian dishes.

There will be barbecued Balkan lamb, Serbian pork and excellent Armenian grilled vegetables.

Visitors will be also tempted by unknown names of various dishes such as Romani gója, Israeli humus or Croatian pljeskavica. Those who want to experiment will taste all these unusual dishes. For those who are more conservative there are dishes such as Italian spaghetti, English sandwiches, or Moravian koláčky (sweet, doughy balls).

Also, excellent dishes are Viennese schnitzels, Armenian kebabs and honey cakes, and Serbian sarma. Mongolian cuisine always attracts many curious visitors. They can taste one of the traditional dishes called guuz – doughy triangles stuffed with pork and cooked in steam. They are flavoured with onions and garlic.
All the cooks have to prepare at least three hundred portions. That’s how many portions each stall sells. To wash it all down there is a great variety of Moravian and Austrian young or vintage wines. There is also a cocktail stall.

Hundreds of people having breakfast sit at one table
The programme on Saturday is accompanied by many solo artists and bands representing many different minorities. Less and more famous singers and dancers who have found their home in this area take turns on the stage. Armenian songs, Romani jazz, Moravian dance, all that is there for visitors to see and hear.
The three days finish with a pleasant public breakfast on Sunday, called the Permanent Breakfast. The thought is simple: One person invites other people to eat their breakfast at a public place. Those people are then committed to organise another breakfast of this kind as soon as possible so the people meet up again and have breakfast together. So it goes on till there are many people having breakfast together. In Mikulov there are usually around a hundred people eating their breakfast and drinking their coffee.