Pelješac food overview

Fresh white fish, usually grilled, forms the mainstay of the local cuisine, although there is a huge diversity in the seafood on offer locally, with octopus salad, breaded or grilled squid, shrimps and lobster featuring prominently on almost all menus. A variety of shells and crustaceans cooked buzara style (in a wine, garlic and tomato sauce) is one particular favourite. However Pelješac is known above all for its shellfish, particularly the mussels and oysters harvested in the bay of Mali Ston – where a huddle of rather fine restaurants has grown up to cater for gourmet travellers who flock here throughout the year. Ston oysters are traditionally eaten raw with a squeeze of lemon and a piece of bread, although they are increasingly served in a variety of ways: fried in breadcrumbs, roasted, grilled, or used as the basis for oyster soup. One other Pelješac peculiarity is butarga, the roe of the mullet that is found off the coast of Lovište – it’s not the kind of thing that is served in every restaurant on the peninsula, but it will crop up in some of the high-end eateries. A lot of olive oil is produced on the peninsula, although most is on a small, family scale.