At the Cultural centre Grad in Belgrade, Serbia, on 14 January 2019 a promotional event was organised for a cookbook „Lužničći recepisi“, a collection of traditional dish recipes from the outskirts of Babusnica municipality, collected through talking to older women from remote, frequently almost completely abandoned villages. The promotional event was organised within the framework of Delicious Monday.

The cookbook was created in the Taking Action of Social Inclusion of Older People project, coordinated by the Red Cross of Serbia, as part of the microproject implemented by civil society organisation Luznicke rukotvorine ZEC from Babusnica. The purpose of the project and the cookbook is to present the contribution that older women from remote rural areas make to the society. This promotional event showed that older women are a resource of their communities, not just keepers of memories, but active persons with concrete knowledge and skills important for society’s development. Thus, this cookbook is a collection of tasteful and interesting dish recipes but also a contribution to social inclusion of older women from rural areas as well as their contribution to preservation of Serbian cultural heritage. Printed in 2018, the European Year of Cultural Heritage, this cookbook is also their contribution to preservation of European cultural diversity.

At the promotional event the participants were able to taste some of the dishes prepared according to the recipes in the cookbook, prepared by the representatives of older women from Babusnica villages. The dishes served included stuffed dried peppers, traditional bread soup with cheese, different pies as well as traditional cookies.

The promotional event was very successful with more than 150 participants and more than 120 dishes served, representatives of the EU Delegation in Serbia, Austrian Embassy as well as numerous civil society organisations working in ageing, human rights and social inclusion.

The Taking Action of Social Inclusion of Older People project is coordinated by the Red Cross of Serbia with support provided by European Union, Austrian Development Agency and Austrian Red Cross.