Gioia Calussi in Zadar: The Cookbook That Saved Dalmatian Cuisine

Last month, Marija and I were discussing traditional recipes at home when she pulled out our worn copy of
Kuharica dalmatinskih gospođa. Almost every Dalmatian kitchen has one. The author’s story fascinates me —
Gioia Calussi visits Zadar quietly to tend to family graves, while her cookbook has become the bible of our cuisine.
Born in Zadar in 1941, she left Dalmatia in 1943 but carried our flavors with her to Italy. Yet, when she returns to her birthplace, nobody notices.

The recipes her nona carried in her head

Calussi’s cookbook isn’t just recipes — it’s a history of taste. She dug into the old dishes that her grandmother and mother brought from Zadar in their memories.
The book covers everything we once cooked: hladetina, organ meats, sweets made from what families had at hand — figs, bajame, maraške.

When journalist Mare Knežević interviewed her in 2023, Calussi offered to speak either in standard Italian or the old Zadar dialect.
They quickly switched to the language once heard daily on our streets. It’s preservation work that matters.
These weren’t recipes written down — they lived in women’s heads, passed from mother to daughter.

Why Gioia Calussi in Zadar goes unnoticed

Our veteran chronicler Drago Marić wrote about this back in 2022. The Tourist Board constantly promotes Dalmatian cuisine using Calussi’s name for international marketing.
Her recipes bring the scents and flavors of Dalmatia to the world. But when she comes to Zadar for All Saints’ Day to visit family graves, nobody mentions it.
No local media, no recognition. She’s become a synonym for authentic Dalmatian cooking, yet walks through her birth city unrecognized.

https://zadar.travel/news/gastronomic-heritage-of-zadars-ms-gioia-part-1

Meanwhile, Rijeka celebrates Lidia Bastianich with fanfare. Both are culinary ambassadors, but one gets attention while the other tends quietly to family memories.

The book every Dalmatian house needs

Kuharica dalmatinskih gospođa sits alongside Dika Marjanović’s Dalmatinska kuharica and Mira Vučetić’s Velika knjiga kuharstva as essential Dalmatian cookbooks.
But Calussi’s feels different — more personal, more connected to specific family traditions. She captured not just what we cooked, but why we cooked it that way.
The logic behind using every part of the animal, making sweets from whatever grew in the yard, and preserving fish for winter.

It is great to see her returning to her birthplace. We owe her a lot for saving our heritage.

We owe her a lot for this preservation work. Croatian culinary heritage could have been lost as families scattered, but she wrote it down before it disappeared.

Good to know

• Kuharica dalmatinskih gospođa is available in Croatian translation
• Gioia Calussi was born in Zadar in 1941
• She left Dalmatia in 1943 but preserved family recipes
• The book covers traditional preservation techniques and seasonal cooking