Proud geese and sheep Published 11/07/2022

Proud geese and sheep

Trapped by the routine of modern city life, today we sometimes cannot even remember what a cow looks like or how many legs a horse has. Often nervous, we use words like "sheep" or "goose" mostly on occasions when someone raises our pressure. In the Slavonia-Baranja plain, however, these terms are still not abstract nouns with a distorted meaning, but a living reflection of centuries-old coexistence and cooperation between man and nature.

From this relationship, two more ancient breeds of our domestic animals were born. The first sheep is the cigaja. Its origins go back to the ancient center of the world, Asia Minor, around 800. years before Christ. It is assumed that one of the oldest living breeds of sheep arrived in the South Pannonian region in 16th or in the 17th century, as another agricultural and food consequence of the Ottoman conquest of Southeast Europe. Prone to plain areas and a richer diet, it quickly became at home in Slavonia and Baranja, so travel writers already at the end In the 18th century, it was noted that this is the land of "inexhaustible herds of sheep". Although the situation in this regard has worsened in the meantime, a few herds of cigaja, otherwise the largest Croatian sheep breed, can still be found in parts of Slavonia and Baranja. At the same time, the prevalence of its delicacies - milk, cheese and high-quality meat - is still not present on restaurant menus, which is why the traveler should not forget that he is in an area where words like "on request" and "by appointment" can open many doors ( when we are already writing about the consequences of the Ottoman conquests :) .

In many ways, the current fate of the Danube goose is similar. Although loud, if she could still talk, this bipedal beauty could be an authentic guide to the Danube alluvial pastures and marshes of Kopački rit, for example. Resilient and adapted to extensive, practically free-range farming in the wetlands along the Danube and its tributaries, the Danube goose, through the story of its ecological adaptation, also testifies to man's adaptation, instead of aggression to the environment in which he lives. Even though its population is very small today due to the draining of swamps, the plowing of pastures and the abandonment of the traditional way of life, the Danube goose is a story that is coming back. Not only because of its exceptional culinary utility and value, but also because there is no fear of high heating bills on a pillow or under a goose feather duvet. And judging by research, not even from allergies.


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