The bura wind has shaped the island, its traditions and even its food!

The two most famous Pag dishes are so special thanks to the bura wind – the internationally awarded Pag cheese, and the relished delicacy of Pag - lamb meat. The outstanding natural conditions, in which the strong bora wind scatters nearby sea salt on fragrant shrubs growing all around, give particularly marvellous and distinctive aroma to these two staples of many Dalmatian recipes. Celebrated by many food experts and considered among the best in the world, lamb and cheese of the area have made famous several coastal, inland and insular localities. 

THE CHEESE

Pag has a long and proud tradition of artisan cheese making and its sheep-milk type is considered one of the best in the world! Pag cheese is regularly awarded and included on various top lists of prominent experts and food critics. It is often proclaimed the best in many categories, even ahead of the most outstanding French cheeses. It is usually rather hard and has a very distinctive flavour which comes from resilient sheep grazing on the aromatic shrubs of sage and thyme covered by sea salt scattered by the gusts of the strong bura wind.

Gligora dairy offers exciting educational and tasting tours to its numerous visitors who get a chance to try exceptional cheese. The Gligora tour will guide you along the whole story of the Paški sir cheesemaking process and it ends in a cheese tasting in the spacious tasting room. On tour, you'll learn why this sheeps' cheese is so unique, including learning all about how the wild aromatic shrubs, herbs, and grasses make the cheese so tasty.  Then before you leave, you can head the store next to the shop and buy as much cheese as you can fit in your luggage. 

Also on Pag Island, you’ll find excellent dairies Paška Sirana and Sirana MIH, who have well-stocked stores on the island stocked with the local sheep’s cheeses. They are packed in perfect sizes to take home as gifts for loved ones - the only thing holding you back is how much can you fit in your luggage?

Find out more about its greatness and fall in love with it at first bite!

THE LAMB

Farmers of the Zadar region have been fostering a long tradition of raising indigenous free-range sheep and lambs, perfecting their specific production of first-rate meat.

To be more precise, it is the breed called Pramenka not more than 45 days old that has made Pag a gastronomic “must see“ or better, a “must try“ point. But what makes the meat so special? The secret is in the mixture of the salty Mediterranean vegetation which is a product of the bura that blows from the Velebit Mountain and the blue Adriatic Sea. You can taste this unusual combination in both the traditional recipes, such as spit-roasted lamb and lamb under the bell (the famous "peka"), or in new modern combinations. Maybe even with the Pag cheese!

Visit, taste, tour, experience, learn more about the production and find out for yourself what makes them so unique!

Photo:CNTB by Maja Danica Pečanić; Nikola Matić