Some put their faith in the hands of the medical profession, others, it seems prefer more natural remedies.
When flu-season comes around to any city it brings with it coughs and sniffles, tired faces, and red-rimmed eyes but this year these signs are possibly the harbinger of something worse: Swine-Flu. Blic newspaper estimated over 20,000 cases in Serbia earlier this week.
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As this is the Balkans, fighting Swine-flu is not just simply a battle launched by Health Officials and a vaccination campaign, but a fight that involves something a bit more mystical.
Folk remedies here tend to carry as much, if not more weight, than conventional medicines, and everyone and their ‘granny’ has a few tricks up their sleeves to avoid getting sick this winter.
We took a trip around to some markets in the city and dug around in the kitchens and cupboards of some locals to check on their preparations for the new flu bug.
It was reported this week in the local media that Swine-flu had caused a surge of garlic sales in the country, and that garlic prices have gone up in local markets.
We hit Kalenic and Zeleni Venac markets to find out, and discovered that the price had indeed gone up by a few dinars. As we bought a few bulbs, we were inundated with advice on how to use it, how much to eat, and also told how smart we were for buying it.
As you look around you notice that alongside the garlic, ginger and lemon and one or two more interesting items are being pushed as a ‘cure all’ for what ails you, and most of these items are staples of an already hearty and organic Serbian diet.
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So far, face masks are not too evident, but there do seem to be worried shoppers searching for ingredients to boost their immune system. In the Balkans, garlic has long been seen as a charm against evil, a ‘blood cleaner’ and a cure-all for an endless list of strange illnesses.
Belgrade’s public transport system is never the most fragrant of places but it’s become more of a challenge of late as more people, it seems, are carrying around the aroma of the little white cloves on their person.
Raza, a market trader, told us that vaccines can’t be trusted, that his ancestors had been treating sicknesses with local produce and herbs for centuries. He says he has never been ill, and that the only side affect is his ‘oniony’ breath, which he says, laughing, his wife never gets tired of complaining about.
In times like these, Serbians cannot stay away from the white onion. Guaranteed to clean the blood, and make you strong as an ox, the further south you travel in the country, the more onion appears in local dishes, often just raw and chopped as a side dish.
Among the many the medical claims for the onion are its use as an antiseptic, a pain reliever, a hypertension cure, to regulate blood sugar and help with elevated cholesterol.That’s a lot for a little vegetable that usually brings you to tears.
December 3, 2009
