Durmitor Healthy Food Days

Dani durmitorske zdrave hrane — Durmitor Healthy Food Days — is Žabljak's August showcase of the mountain food that has sustained the Durmitor highlands for centuries. For the duration of the fair, the town centre fills with producers from the surrounding villages and katuns, selling directly from their stalls.

The katun — the summer hut settlement on the high pastures — is the engine of this food culture. Through the warm months, families move their herds up onto the plateau, milk them on the grass that gives Durmitor cheese its character, and work the milk by hand as their grandparents did. The August fair is the moment this quiet highland economy comes down into town.

The stars of the table are the plateau's staples: mountain cheese and skorup — the prized kajmak-style cream skimmed from boiled milk, a delicacy of the Durmitor region — alongside lamb raised on high pastures and honey from mountain meadows. Everything is offered for tasting and for sale, straight from the hands that made it, with no middlemen between the katun and the customer.

Folklore performances give the fair a festive frame, and the whole event doubles as a meeting of town and mountain: shepherds and cheesemakers come down from the summer pastures, and visitors get a direct line into a food culture shaped by altitude and tradition.

For visitors the fair is also simply good shopping: prices are fair, portions are generous, and the producers enjoy explaining how each cheese and jar came to be. Arrive hungry, taste widely, and let the stalls settle the question of lunch.

The fair is held in August in Žabljak's town centre and entry is free. For anyone staying on Durmitor between hikes, it is the easiest way to taste the plateau — and to fill a backpack with cheese and honey for the trail.