Food&Wine
Sea bass, steaks, fresh catch of the day- order whatever you want on the Makarska Riviera. But somewhere on that same table, quietly, is what actually kept this coast fed long before any of it made it onto a menu. It is not glamorous. It grows out of rocky soil with almost no fuss. And once a year, Podgora throws it an entire festival – the famous Blitvijada.
What is Blitvijada?
Blitvijada is an annual festival in Podgora, on the Makarska Riviera, dedicated entirely to blitva, Swiss chard. Held every October to mark the start of what organizers call “veggie month,” it turns a humble, everyday vegetable into the centerpiece of a full weekend of food, sport and local pride. As far as we can tell, it is one of very few festivals anywhere built entirely around this one leafy green, if not the only one.
A vegetable that once fed the coast
Way before it was festival material, blitva was survival food. It grows easily in poor, rocky Mediterranean soil, needs little water, and tolerates the kind of neglect that would kill most other vegetables, which is exactly why it became a staple on a coast where good farmland was always scarce. For generations of Dalmatian households, chard was not a side dish. It was dinner, stretched with olive oil, garlic, and whatever potatoes or beans were on hand. Celebrating it now is less nostalgia and more a straightforward acknowledgment of what actually kept people going.
Meet the blitvari
Dalmatians have picked up more than one nickname over the centuries, and they wear “blitvari,” roughly “chard people,” with pride rather than embarrassment. It says something about how central this vegetable is to the region’s identity that an entire population would happily be named after it. In Podgora, where the festival actually lives, that nickname is not just accepted; it is the whole point of the weekend.
Green menus and a very specific ice cream
Throughout October, restaurants across Podgora put together special green menus, reworking blitva into dishes that go well beyond the boiled-and-oiled version most people grew up with. Local specialties like blitvenjak and soparnik (made from scratch in front of you!) also get their moment, alongside more inventive entries built for the festival itself.
The signature item, though, is blitvar, a blitva-based ice cream that people travel specifically for, in flavors like chard with kiwi and turmeric, or chard with carob and fig. There is also a more competitive side: prizes go to the biggest homegrown chard leaf, the best chard dish, and even the fastest chard cleaning, a genuinely practical skill on this coast.
It is not all about the plate
Blitvijada comes with a full program beyond the food: workshops for children, a photo corner, live music, and even circus performances. And for anyone who would rather earn their ice cream than just eat it, BlitvaRun is a trail race added to the festival, running along a stretch of coastal path between Podgora and Drašnice normally closed to walkers, cleared and opened specially for race day. Green clothing is the unofficial dress code for the whole weekend.
BlitvaRun: earning your ice cream the hard way
For anyone who would rather sweat for their blitvar than just order it, BlitvaRun opens the Blitvijada festival weekend on foot. The trail race offers two distances: a serious 12 km route and a shorter, more relaxed 5 km option, so it suits competitive runners and first-timers alike.
What makes the course genuinely special is where it runs: a stretch of coastal path between Podgora and Drašnice that stays closed to walkers the rest of the year, opened and cleared specifically for race day. Runners set off in the morning, well before the day heats up, and the unofficial rule for spectators and participants alike is simple: wear green, or at least something with a chard leaf on it.
Not the only green story on the Riviera
Podgora may not remain alone in this for long. Further north, Brela appears to be developing its own chard-related tradition, centered on a specialty dessert built around the same vegetable. Details are still coming together, but it suggests this coast’s relationship with blitva extends beyond one town’s October weekend. Also, have you checked out the Biokovo pantry? It’s full of flavor!
Order the sea bass. Order the steak. Just do not skip the vegetable that quietly did the heavy lifting on this coast before either one was on the table. Podgora built a whole festival around it for a reason. Visit Blitvijada on October 4th 2026.
