After working in hotels, tourismologist Miki Milošević (33) and his mother Danka started a business in their native village of Kalimanići near Bajina Bašta - making burek and pies, which they deliver all over Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
While men his age are chasing after girls, going out, and driving expensive cars, Miki Milošević (33) from the village of Kalimanići has a different perspective on life! Despite having two university degrees and being a licensed tour guide, city life doesn't interest him at all. This hardworking young man is a master of pies and burek, which he makes and delivers across Serbia!
Not far from Bajina Bašta, at the foot of Mount Tara, lies the modest rural household of Miki's family in the village of Kalimanići. He was born in Bajina Bašta and, like most residents there, lives on both sides of the Drina.
“I grew up here, we engage in agriculture, raspberry farming, and we also have guests at our household and in a hundred-year-old house, people come to taste our homemade products. We have a cow, pigs, chickens... We process milk and make two types of cheese - white slice and full-fat cheese based on a recipe from Bijelo Polje (Montenegro), where my mother Danka is from,” Miki tells Kurir.
From hotels to the family farm
This young man graduated from the College of Tourism in Belgrade and then furthered his education at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Novi Sad. He worked as a tour guide and in hotels on Tara, but after being laid off, he decided to fully dedicate himself to rural life.
MIKI WITH HIS MOTHER DANKA, PHOTO CREDIT: PRIVATE ARCHIVE
“Shortly before the coronavirus pandemic, I realised that the future is in food. I travelled the world and saw that today's wealth lies in the countryside. That layoff showed me that I should do what I know and love best, which is production and rural life,” he says gratefully.
They also have cereals, from which they make homemade flour. They produce food for themselves, buying only what they can't produce. The love for pies helped Miki and his mother Danka start a business.
“We offer two types of pies, casserole-style layered pie and the pie that is stretched on a cloth. Making pies is a family tradition. I learned to make casserole-style layered pie from my grandmother, and from my mother, the one that is stretched on a cloth. We make burek, cheese pie, greens pie, potato pie, and apple pie. My mother and I make them together and deliver them all over Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Every day we have a few orders and work as much as we can handle,” Miki tells us.
SEARCHING FOR A SOULMATE
‘Rural life is an advantage’
Miki is not married and hopes to find a soulmate who will love such a life:
“People have prejudices that rural life is very hard, but I see it as an advantage. Nothing is difficult when you organise well. I don't plan to live in the city; my choice is rural life, I have space, peace. Every day I walk to the Drina's bank, I have time for myself.”
All ingredients are homemade
He adds that they are satisfied with how the business is going and are grateful to the platform "Small Food Producers in Serbia," which recognised and contributed to their development.
“We don't have any premium packaging; we mostly work naturally,” Miki jokes:
“It takes an hour to make one casserole-style layered pie. All the ingredients are ours, homemade, from products on our farm.
Miki's day starts at seven in the morning.
“By half-past seven, the livestock must be fed, and the garden and raspberry fields checked. After that comes breakfast, time for coffee and rest. One needs to rest to be able to work. Then we make the orders, and when that's done, we process the milk, make cream, and milk the cow. We mostly do everything on the traditional stove. The summer season can be exhausting, but it's nothing terrible,” concludes Miki.
