Yugo-Nostalgia: The restaurant where Yugoslavia never died

DW (English)

For those yearning for a taste of the past or a trip down memory lane, Kafana SFRJ in Belgrade is the place to go. This cafe restaurant serves up portions of nostalgia for a country that no longer exists: Yugoslavia.

Transcript

00:00Walking into Kafana SFRJ in the Serbian capital Belgrade feels like stepping back in time to the 1970s.

00:08Over 30 years ago, the country known to the world as Yugoslavia broke up into several states.

00:15But here, its memory lives on in the form of kofta soda, traditional food, and above all, a lot of souvenirs and memorabilia.

00:24We bought something and got something for a gift.

00:30We bring something to our guests from everywhere. Like a small museum, as you can see.

00:37Jelena Orlic has been working here for more than six years.

00:41Who is the Kafana SFRJ, meaning Yugoslavia.

00:45They can come and ask something to be a national kitchen.

00:50This is an idea, that people are connected, that they are closer.

00:56Because, unfortunately, the time was divided.

01:02Now, everyone is divided.

01:05Guests come not just from the former Yugoslav republics, but from all over the world.

01:11They come for a taste of Yugo nostalgia.

01:14Yeah, so my family is half Lithuanian, half Albanian.

01:18So both parts of history, like when my grandma talked about the food that she was making and her grandparents,

01:24I can finally taste it in like a local place and it's amazing.

01:28Well, I'm wondering if it's in Germany, if it's in a local place, it's like a DDR devotional.

01:33That would probably be a bit strange.

01:36I think for tourists it's maybe funny, but I don't know if it's in the same way.

01:42According to a recent study, 81% of Serbs believe Yugoslavia's breakup harmed their country.

01:48Many still mourn the loss of the federal state.

01:51I was not a slave, a slave, a slave, a slave.

01:58All, all, all, all, all.

02:02All is in the best place.

02:06The war, industrial, motorization, music, sports,

02:11and so much more than today.

02:14The Cafe also honors former Yugoslav President Jozef Broz Tito,

02:18who died in 1980.

02:20He was a Marshal, a military commander, the best world man in the entire world.

02:28He was a leader in the world.

02:51Freedom to travel and economic stability.

02:54In Tito's Yugoslavia, the living standards were relatively high.

02:58Many Serbs now feel that that's no longer the case.

03:02Unfortunately, people feel that the labor market is completely different.

03:09There are no longer questions for the rest.

03:12You always ask whether you have a job or not.

03:16For many Serbs, Tito represents a time when Yugoslavia was a strong state.

03:22Yugoslavia was a small country.

03:25It was not too much economically developed,

03:27but it was very respected and well positioned on the political map of the world.

03:33It was thanks to Tito, thanks to the immigrants,

03:36thanks to his peaceful mission that he did in the world.

03:42But Tito was also a dictator who brooked no opposition.

03:46His regime was responsible for mass executions and imprisonments,

03:50claiming thousands of lives.

03:52In Kefana SFRJ, only a few guests talk about this aspect.

03:57It's a little strange, you know, because when you saw this person on the photograph,

04:05you see the person who actually killed somebody in your family.

04:10You know, it's a little, it's spooky, it's not normal.

04:14And yet, Nikola Kolya Boževic and his colleagues are regulars here.

04:19Because, even if Yugoslavia was a dictatorship,

04:22he has fond memories of his childhood in the multi-ethnic state.

04:26And these are the kind of memories that Kefana SFRJ wants to keep alive.

04:31You know, the last of those decades.

04:51But, even if it was a woman,

04:56you may be known

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