Noel, the only Zagreb Michelin star restaurant, a spot appreciated for its exceptional gastronomy and a unique experience for all the senses, proudly presented its new head chef Mario Mandaric. Mario is a famous face in the world of gastronomy, and with a stellar reputation and undeniable talent, he brings a fresh perspective and innovation to Noel.

As Journal writes, Mario has established himself as one of the best young chefs in the industry, earning praise for his creative approach, dedication to sourcing the highest quality ingredients and unwavering passion for the art of fine dining. Mario will thus lead Noel’s Michelin star kitchen with a mission to inspire the team to create new culinary experiences.

“This is a new chapter in my cooperation with Noel, considering that I was already the head chef at Noel Buje. I am really happy about the new challenge in my career and the experience of working in the only Zagreb Michelin star restaurant. I believe that with our joint efforts we will continue this great story, in which I will try to fit my distinctive style of cooking with Noel’s signature,” said Mario.

Similar reactions from Noel: “We are excited for this new chapter in Noel! We’ll continue at the same pace, the whole team is together, from the service to the bar headed by the new chef Mario Mandarić. We believe he will continue to provide our guests with the ultimate gastronomic journey that combines the finest foods with innovation, though with a fresh perspective and new techniques and ways of thinking.”

MARIO’S ROAD TO SUCCESS

At the age of 31, Mario Mandarić from Split can boast of an impressive biography. He has cooked in the world’s best restaurants. From Thailand, where he owned a restaurant where many celebrities from the world of Hollywood came, to England, where he worked at The Fat Duck – the best restaurant in the world with three Michelin stars. In addition, Mario Mandarić was included in the list of the thirty most influential people in Europe under the age of 30, due to his exceptional humanitarian work – with his wife Matea, Mario builds wells in Africa.

As he shared with TCN during the project, “building a well does not just mean bringing water to those people, for whom it has been a pure luxury so far. It means changing their lives. There are no fathers in the villages we visited because they died while trying to pull the liquid that means life to them, from the swamp, in buckets. That makes this action even more significant. Fills you with happiness. It is amazing to see their explosive happiness as they play under the drops of water coming from the well.”

ORDINARY WEDDING FOR THE ORDINARY GUY

No story about Mario would be complete without his wedding story. It goes something like this:

After three months in Africa, the couple returned to Zagreb and Paul met Mario alone for a drink.

“Man, I think she is the one. 3 months, 24/7 together in rural Africa and Zanzibar – she is really great,” he said.

“As in you are thinking about getting married?”

“Yeah, I am going to propose. I know that getting married in Vegas with Elvis singing is a cliche, but it is not in Croatia. What do you think?”

“How about this,” Paul suggested without thinking. “If you set the date for April 8, I will be happy to be your best man. I need to get from New York to the West Coast, so can pop in for a night to Vegas, and then pick up a car and take you to San Francisco.”

With a few extra steps for the best man, the happy couple did indeed get married in Vegas, as witnessed by Elvis.

Source : Total Croatia News

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The Zagreb Film Festival, which will take place from 6-12 November in several locations around the Croatian capital, as well as on two web platforms, kinoeuropa.hr and croatian.film, has announced its full programme during a press conference. Festival director Boris T Matić expressed how proud he was about the rich and diverse film programme, pointing out that the movies shown at the festival will be the same ones that are sure to stand out in the current film season – and Zagreb audiences will be among the first crowds to see them.

The main competition, consisting of first and second features, will screen 11 titles this year, eight of which will actually be competing for the Golden Pram Award. These are, among others, the opening film, Seventh Heaven by Jasna Nanut, Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s LUX Audience Award contender 20,000 Species of Bees [+], Una Gunjak’s Locarno title Excursion [+], Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sex [+], Vladimir Perišić’s Lost Country [+] and Solitude [+], directed by Ninna Pálmadóttir. The award-winning films Guardians of the Formula [+] by Dragan Bjelogrlić and Housekeeping for Beginners [+] by Goran Stolevski will be shown out of competition, alongside the classic short My Flat (1962) by Zvonimir Berković.

Two short-film competitions see the involvement of 18 titles, ten of them in the international and eight in the national competition, called Checkers. In the Together Again competition, dedicated to auteurs who have already showcased their earlier works at the Zagreb Film Festival, seven movies will compete for the Golden Bicycle Award. The highlights of this competition are Radu Jude’s Locarno title Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World [+] and Sofia Coppola’s Venice-premiered Priscilla [+], while other competing pictures include Milad Alami’s Opponent [+], Ilker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge [+] (another LUX Audience Award nominee) and Nevio Marasović’s Good Times, Bad Times [+], among others. Another competition, organised by the Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region, will screen five titles, such as Martin Skovbjerg’s Copenhagen Does Not Exist [+], Ena Sendijarević’s Sweet Dreams [+] and a restored classic, Life of a Shock Force Worker (1972) by Bahrudin Bato Čengić.

The Great 5 is a programme dedicated to the five largest and most significant national film industries in Europe, realised in co-operation with cultural centres in Italy, France, Spain, the UK and Germany. This year, as an exception, it will boast six titles, since Pedro Almodóvar’s short Strange Way of Life will also be screened. Two more sidebars, Plus and KinoKino, the latter of which has become a year-long film festival, will also show films for youth and children’s audiences, respectively, while Anna Hints’ LUX Audience Award-nominated documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood [+] will also have its own special screening.

The industry section of the festival will also be rich and varied. In the traditional My First Script workshop, six participants from Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia and Croatia will work on their scripts with the two regular mentors, Pjer Žalica and Antonio Nuić, and one guest mentor, Slovenian-Czech filmmaker Olmo Omerzu. The My First Video Game workshop for children is also one of the staple events within Zagreb Film Festival Industry, along with the Industry Youth! pitching forum for students from the six film academies in the Western Balkans region and the 54+ film criticism workshop for senior cinephiles, mentored by Nino Kovačić. The trailer-editing workshop will be held by Vladimir Gojun and Tomislav Pavlic for the second time while, in co-operation with the Talents and Short Film Market (TSFM), the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and the North Macedonia Film Agency, the festival presents TSFM: What’s the Story Croatia script-development workshop for short films, which will culminate in a pitching forum. Olmo Omerzu, editor Bettina Böhler and producer Renée Hansen Mlodyszewski will dispense master classes, while Creative Europe – MEDIA Desk Croatia has also prepared two programmes: MEDIA Info Day and Support for Creative Innovation Lab.

The whole film and industry programme is available to peruse here.

Source : Cineuropa

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ARRAS, France (AP) — France will mobilize up to 7,000 soldiers to increase security around the country after a teacher was fatally stabbed and three other people wounded in a school attack by a former student suspected of Islamic radicalization, the president’s office said Saturday.

Some schoolchildren, parents and personnel returned to the Gambetta-Carnot school in the northern city of Arras as it reopened Saturday morning to reconnect and seek support, after the attack Friday that rattled France in a context of global tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

Counterterrorism authorities are investigating the stabbing, and the suspected assailant and several others are in custody, prosecutors said. The suspect had been under recent surveillance by intelligence services for radicalization. Court documents viewed by The Associated Press show he is from the Ingushetia region in Russia’s Caucasus Mountains, which neighbors Chechnya. Authorities had initially identified him as Chechen.

The French government heightened the national threat alert, and President Emmanuel Macron ordered up to 7,000 soldiers deployed by Monday night and until further notice to bolster security and vigilance around France, his office said. The “attack emergency” threat posture allows the government to temporarily mobilize the military to protect public places among other measures.

The attacker’s exact motive remains unclear, and he is reportedly refusing to speak to investigators.

At the school Saturday morning, police stood guard as adults and children arrived. Classes were canceled, but the school reopened for those who wanted to come together or seek support. One mother said she came with her 17-year-old daughter in a show of defiance against extremism, and to overcome the fear of returning to a site where children were locked down for hours after the stabbing.

Another mother came to seek guidance from counselors about how to support her two sons, who witnessed the attack in their schoolyard.

“As adults, we are managing with difficulty to take a step back, but for them, they’re children,” said Emily Noge, arriving at the school with her sons and partner. ‘’They initially thought it was an exercise, so keeping things separate, to say that we’ve passed from an exercise to something dramatic, is very tricky for them.”

‘’It’s always the same moments that come back: The schoolyard, the chairs to protect themselves, the stabbings, the whys. ‘Why us? Why Arras? Why the teachers? They were good teachers. They were there to protect us,”’ she said.

For many in France, the attack echoed the killing of another teacher, Samuel Paty, almost exactly three years ago near his Paris area school. He was beheaded by a radicalized Chechen later killed by police.

The suspect in this week’s attack had been under surveillance since the summer on suspicion of Islamic radicalization, French intelligence services told AP. He was detained Thursday for questioning based on the monitoring of his phone calls in recent days, but investigators found no sign that he was preparing an attack, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

French intelligence suggested a link between the war in the Middle East and the suspect’s decision to attack, the minister said. He said authorities have detained 12 people near schools or places of worship since the Hamas attack on Israel, some of whom were armed and were preparing to act. France has heightened security at hundreds of Jewish sites around the country this week.

The prosecutor said the alleged assailant was a former student there and repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” during the attack. Prosecutors are considering charges of terrorism-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect.

The dead educator was Dominique Bernard, a French language teacher at the Gambetta-Carnot school, which enrolls students ages 11-18. Another teacher and a security guard were in critical condition with wounds from the stabbing, police said. The counterterrorism prosecutor said a cleaning worker was also injured.

Announcing that the school would reopen Saturday, Macron urged the people of France to “stay united.”

“The choice has been made not to give in to terror,” he said. “We must not let anything divide us, and we must remember that schools and the transmission of knowledge are at the heart of this fight against ignorance.”

Source : PBS

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Varaždin is the first Croatian city to be awarded the status of a UNESCO Creative City in the field of music, joining a select community of cities from around the world on UNESCO’s list of creative cities.

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network was established in 2004 to strengthen cooperation with cities which have recognised creativity as a strategic factor of sustainable growth. The network comprises more than 350 cities.

Varaždin Mayor Neven Bosilj said he was proud Varaždin had become the first UNESCO city of music in Croatia.

“An excellent team has been formed, led by the Varaždin Tourism Board and the Music School, which has a phenomenal tradition and which has given some of the most important musicians in Croatia. Given the Varaždin Baroque Evenings, local crafts people who make music instruments and everything else that makes Varaћdin a city of music, we knew that we would succeed,” said Bosilj.

The secretary-general of the Croatian Commission for UNESCO at the Culture and Media Ministry, Rut Carek, congratulated the mayor and county authorities and all Varaždin residents on having invested for decades in culture and cultural and music heritage, noting that she believed there was a chance for other Croatian cities as well to obtain the status of a UNESCO creative city.

Source : Croatia Week

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Croatian company Podravka is investing 16.2 million euro ($17.2 million) to upgrade and restructure its Slovenian subsidiary, Zito, a food producer, with a focus on improving efficiency in the bakery products segment.

The project was launched in January 2022, and so far 8.2 million euro has been invested. A further 8 million euro will be invested by the end of the year, Podravka said in a press release. The company financed the restructuring with funds raised from the sale of real estate.

The project creates preconditions for further growth in the bakery segment and improves the availability of Podravka’s products on the Slovenian and Croatian markets, the company added.

The overhaul involves modernising the bread factory production line in Vic, automating production lines in Maribor, and expanding frozen food storage capacity in Maribor.

Podravka’s shares traded 1.13% higher at 134 euro intraday on Wednesday on the Zagreb bourse.

($ = 0.941 euro)

Source : SeeNews

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The old Croatian currency (kuna/HRK) is still being kept in socks, under mattresses and in secret drawers in many a household – and in very large sums.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Tihomir Mavriček, executive director of the Cash Sector of the Croatian National Bank (CNB/HNB), spoke to HRT about the old Croatian currency still being kept in houses, saying the following:

“The experiences of all countries that have introduced the euro so far show that you never end up recovering all of the old currency. Some old coins and banknotes stay home as souvenirs, some gets lost, and some has been destroyed.”

He added that so far, 436 million pieces of old Croatian currency in the form of banknotes have been returned out of the 500 million in circulation, which means 87 percent of it. In addition, 742 million coins have been returned out of a total of three billion in circulation. This is 25 percent of the total amount of coins of the old Croatian currency which had been produced.

“We’d like to invite people come and and exchange their kuna for euros at almost two thousand bank locations, post offices and FINA locations by December the 31st this year. Up to 100 pieces of banknotes and 100 pieces of kuna coins can be changed for free, and banks have decided not to charge a fee if more than 100 pieces are being changed at once,” Mavriček emphasised.

As he explained, from January the 1st next year, kuna will only be able to be exchanged for euros exclusively at the CNB. This can be done for an unlimited number of old Croatian currency banknotes, as well as for coins, until December the 31st, 2025. After that, the coins will no longer be exchangeable at all. A counter is currently being prepared in Zagreb, where money can be exchanged and will be in operation from January the 2nd, 2024.

Source : Total Croatia News

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Iran sent a message to Israel on Saturday stressing that it does not want further escalation in the Hamas-Israel war, but that it will have to intervene if the Israeli operation in Gaza continues, two diplomatic sources with knowledge of the situation told Axios.

Why it matters: The fighting between Hamas and Israel will turn into a regional war if Iran gets involved either directly or indirectly, such as through a militant group in Syria or by backing any Hezbollah decision to fully join the fighting.

• Iran’s message, sent to Israel through the UN, comes as the Biden administration has been trying to deter Iran and Lebanon-backed Hezbollah, supported by Iran, from joining the war. This week, the U.S. sent an aircraft carrier group and fighter jets to the region.

Behind the scenes: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with UN envoy to the Middle East Tor Wennesland on Saturday in Beirut, the two diplomatic sources said.

• Wennesland urged Amir-Abdollahian to help prevent a spillover of the conflict in Gaza and Israel to the wider region in the Middle East.
• The Iranian foreign minister replied that Iran doesn’t want the conflict to turn into a regional war and wants to try to help with the release of civilians who are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
• But Amir-Abdollahian stressed that Iran has its red lines. He said that if the Israeli military operation continues — and especially if Israel follows through on its promise of a ground offensive in Gaza — Iran will have to respond, according to the sources.

Wennesland called Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and other officials and conveyed Iran’s message, the sources said.

• Wennesland’s office confirmed he met with Amir-Abdollahian on Saturday, saying they discussed “diplomatic efforts to release hostages, de-escalate and prevent a spillover of the conflict to the wider region.”
• The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment. Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What they’re saying: Amir-Abdollahian, who earlier met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, said in a briefing with reporters in Beirut on Saturday that Israel must “stop the crimes against civilians in Gaza — because it might be too late in a few hours.”

• “I know about the scenarios that Hezbollah has put in place,” Amir-Abdollahian said. “Any step the resistance will take will cause a huge earthquake” for Israel.

The big picture: The latest fighting between Hamas and Israel began Oct. 7.

• Israel has continued its heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ attack on Israel last Saturday. Violence also has been escalating along the Israel-Lebanon border and in the occupied West Bank.
• More than 1,300 Israelis and 2,200 Palestinians have been killed.

Source : AXIOS

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Light pollution in Croatia is a serious problem. It negatively affects the environment and the health of people and animals. A large part of the problem is public lighting. The sky above Zagreb at night is brighter than the sky above much larger European and even world capitals.

As Poslovni/HRT write, light pollution in Zagreb is worse than in Vienna, Budapest and Hong Kong. The sky above the Croatian metropolis is more polluted than even the American city of lights.

“Both Las Vegas and other places. Measuring was done around the world, and we were always taken aback. On average, our cities are five times brighter than Augsburg,” said Korado Korlevic, an astronomer.

He knows very well how dangerous light pollution is. Even the work of the world-famous observatory in Višnjan was threatened due to public lighting. And it negatively affects a person’s body temperature, blood pressure, heart rhythm and hormonal balance.

“The alternation of light and dark affects all living things on earth, and we are part of it. We also have a part within our body, in the brain, that regulates the internal clock and organizes the circadian cycle. We now have street lights that turn on at three in the morning in many places in Croatia as if it were 9 p.m., completely unnecessary,” said Korlevic.

POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF LIGHT POLLUTION IN CROATIA

The consequences can even lead to the disappearance of certain animal and plant species.

“Bats come to feed on those lights because there are a lot of insects around those lights, however, the bat then becomes prey because the owl will catch it much easier with the lamp than if it has to catch it in complete darkness,” explained Mirna Mazija, a biologist.

A new Law on Light Pollution in Croatia was adopted four years ago, but it has only been fully implemented from February of this year, when the last two regulations were adopted. The 12-month period within which local self-government units must adopt a Lighting Plan began then.

“We are currently in the process of creating a lighting plan. The lighting plan defines the areas and the lighting of certain areas according to their purpose and should be consistent with the spatial plan. It has some mandatory content that needs to be adopted; it has a textual part, a graphic part, etc., said Ana Pavičić Kaselj, head of the Office for Economy, Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Planning of the City of Zagreb.

The deadline for adopting the Plan expires in just four months. After that, cities and municipalities have up to 11 years to bring outdoor lighting into line with the law. And the situation is already alarming.

Source : Total Croatia News

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There are almost 4 million people living in Croatia, and probably just as many recipes for the traditional Croatian fish stew. The dish is ubiquitous – one of the core meals on a family menu, and one of the true no-brainers for any gathering. It is so important that there are competitions, events, and festivals staged around it, and it’s part of almost every holiday or celebration.

Due to its geographical position and cultural heritage, there are two main types of Croatian fish stew – as prepared by the sea (in Dalmatia and Istria) and as prepared inland (most famously in Slavonia and Baranja).

With Mediterranean influence along the coast, the Dalmatian/Istrian fish stew is known as brudet or brodet, and some of its key ingredients include fresh seafood, olive oil, and white wine. Inland Croatia, on the other hand, has been heavily influenced by the Hungarian heritage and its famous paprika. Mild or spicy, good-quality, fragrant paprika is essential for the Slavonian fish stew, also known as fiš paprikaš, which is prepared using freshwater fish. What both types have in common is that the fish must be fresh, and the company must be in a good mood.

CROATIAN BRUDET/BRODET

Every Mediterranean country has a version of the brodetto or bourdeto. The base of fresh sea fish and wine is usually similar, and the add-ons (like chorizo in Spain) vary. While white fish is the top choice, the beauty of this dish lies in the fact that any saltwater fish can be used.

Here is what you’ll need:

• 1 kg of saltwater fish (feel free to use several kinds) – cut into steaks
• a few big shrimp (optional)
• 2 medium onions
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 500 g canned tomatoes (fillets)
• 200 ml white wine
• dash of olive oil
• 500 ml water
• fresh parsley
• salt, pepper, Mediterranean spices (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar (optional)

As Putni Kofer writes, there are two ways to prepare it.

The first is to layer all the ingredients: olive oil, finely chopped onions and garlic, tomatoes, fish, and other seafood; add the wine and enough water to cover it all, vinegar if you like a little kick, salt and pepper, and other spices if desired. Place on a high fire until it starts boiling, then turn it down and let simmer for an hour. Leave the pot uncovered. The trick is to never stir and simply shake the pot if you feel like you need to mix up the ingredients a little.

The other way is the same process step by step. Start by sauteing the onions in a little bit of olive oil; add the garlic and parsley once the onions have softened, followed by the tomatoes. Layer your fish on top, cover with wine and water, add spices, and leave to cook for about an hour.

Brudet is traditionally served with polenta, which you can prepare according to instructions. When serving the fish, just make sure the pieces stay whole.

FIŠ PAPRIKAŠ

Over to Slavonia and Baranja! In eastern Croatia, the fish stew is made with freshwater fish, most commonly carp, catfish, or perch; or all at once. And though the rest of the ingredients are quite similar to what is used for brudet, the results are very different. The culprit (other than the home of the fish) – smoked paprika.

• 1 kg of freshwater fish (feel free to use several kinds) – cut into steaks
• 1/2 kg onions
• 200 ml white wine
• dash of oil
• 1 l water
• salt, peppercorns, smoked paprika
• fresh whole chili peppers (optional)

Much like it’s saltwater counterpart, the preparation of the eastern Croatian fish stew starts with finely chopping the onions. Sautee those, add some salt, peppercorns and smoked paprika, fresh chili peppers if you like, and cover with about one liter of water. Let that boil for about 10 minutes, before adding the fish and wine. Cook for about 45 minutes. Again – do not stir, shake if necessary. The traditional vessel for fiš paprikaš is a special hanging pot over an open fire. Not only does the dish take on an umami smoky note, but the motion helps mix up the flavours as well.

Fiš paprikaš is usually served with pasta, preferably freshly made.

As per Croatian tradition, there is an ongoing debate on which version of the fish stew is better – brudet or fiš paprikaš. Settling it, as you can imagine, is impossible, but there have been attempts. Our favourite is Ribarska noć, or Fishermen’s Night in Aljmaš.

Source : Total Croatia News

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Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia agreed to boost cooperation in dealing with irregular migration following a meeting of the three interior ministers in Trieste on Thursday after reintroducing border checks in October.

The three ministers – Matteo Piantedosi, Boštjan Poklukar, and Davor Božinović – agreed to launch joint border patrols, set up joint reception centres for foreigners, and holder regular three-way ministerial meetings to exchange key information, Croatia’s news agency Hina reported.

Slovenia reintroduced police checks at its borders with Croatia and Hungary on 21 October, despite all three countries being members of the EU’s borderless Schengen area.

Italy did the same along the border with Slovenia. Italy’s Piantedosi said border surveillance was reinstated based on terrorism threat assessments.

“This brought about some measures that were not well received in Croatia, or Slovenia, or Italy, but they were necessitated based on our expert analyses, especially after the war in Israel.”

Croatia’s Interior Minister Božinović said the security issue “is of key interest for our citizens. Our obligation is to boost it through joint cooperation, which has no alternative. No country can deal with this alone”.

He pointed out that numerous migrants abuse the institute of asylum in Croatia only to move on illegally towards Western Europe.

Croatia lies on the so-called Balkan route, used by many migrants from the Middle East and North Africa, who come to Greece from Turkey and then travel across the Balkans to the EU and Schengen member Croatia.

Zagreb reported an “unprecedented” number of migrants crossing over this summer from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, with which Croatia shares a long and rugged land border that is difficult to control.

“The problem is the route, not Croatia,” Piantedosi said.

Source : EURACTIV

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