Bacon Festival

It starts as an argument in a tavern. In mid-January 1988 people in Kačarevo, a village near Pančevo, held a competition for the best bacon in the village, and the argument has not stopped since. In 2026 the Slaninijada was held for the 39th time, from 19 to 22 February, with more than 400 exhibitors.

Bacon is the main attraction, from Yorkshire pigs and from mangulica pigs. Stalls fill the village centre indoors and outdoors and sell bacon, dried and smoked meats, sausages, hot cracklings and oddities such as chocolate with cracklings. The contests include a mangulica bacon category and a foreign bacon category, and in 2026 the foreign winners came from Arad in Romania, Litija in Slovenia and Montenegro. Local housewives serve traditional dishes from old family recipes, and the older contests have fun names: the Golden Crackling for rendering lard, the Golden Cauldron for pork stew, and a piglet race called "Catch me if you can".

One thing changed over time. Public pig slaughter was banned, so today only finished meat products are shown, and visitors do not watch the work. A tourism guide credits the local košava wind for drying the bacon. In 1991 a sculptor made a 16-metre bacon sculpture, which the festival counts as the world's first bacon monument.

Kačarevo is near Pančevo, and our Belgrade guide is the natural base. The biggest crowds are expected on the weekend, though in 2026 visitor numbers were already high on the first day. Dress warmly, since stalls are partly outdoors in February. The official site is slaninijada.rs, and you can reach the organisers on +381 13 601 094.