Since Albania produces very little of the latter, the majority is imported from Italy, and this comes at a cost. And many items that we in Western Europe take for granted as ingredients in our cuisine are either unavailable or found in limited quantities.
Fresh items, available from the huge number of local mini-markets, mom-and-pop stores, and the amazing ‘Fresh Market’ in the Old Town, are of varying quality but mostly cost significantly less than in the West.
Dairy products / produktet e qumështit
To most Western European /American taste buds, local Albanian dairy products such as butter (gjalp) and cheese (djathë) probably taste quite rancid (though your palette soon adjusts).
The main local cheeses are djathë I bardhë, which is crumbly and kept in brine, rather like Greek Feta or Kaçkavall, a semi-hard, curd cheese that’s slightly less salty than djathë I bardhë and can be sliced or grated. There’s also Gjizë, which is like cottage cheese. There are other varieties, but the above are the most ubiquitous.
- If the product you’re staring at on a shelf says Lope, then it’s from a cow.
- Rennet-based and more European-style cheese can only be found in larger stores.
- Dhale is buttermilk and is often sold with Byrek.
- Kos is yoghurt and comes in liquid and semi-liquid forms.
Honey / Mjaltë
Supermarket prices are generally higher than in Western Europe and, strangely, the locally produced nectar is even more expensive, sometimes retailing at 1200-2000 Lek for a large jar. There is a product that can be obtained from the smaller mini-market stores called Mjaltë Industrial, which tastes fine but appears to contain only glucose and sugar, and claims to be for cooking.
Coffee / Caffe
Supermarkets mostly have only two brands: one is Lavazza, and the other looks like Lavazza but is of poorer quality. Most supermarkets do have beans to grind, but there are really only a few key brands.
Byrek
One of Albania's most beloved traditional dishes, a layered pie of ultra-thin dough (often home-made phyllo or yufka-style sheets) brushed with oil or butter, baked to crisp flakes and containing either cheese (djathë), spinach (spinaq) or meat (mish) and sometimes a combination. Byrek is sold from small kiosks called Byrektore. Visit the corner of Rruga Adria and Blvd. Dyrrah to find seven adjacent byrektore.
Supermarkets
Although seemingly crammed full of goods, on closer inspection, their shelves are mostly lined with multiple versions of the same product type, and much of this space is taken up with snack products such as biscuits, sweets, crisps and sugary drinks.
The main supermarket chains are Extra Market, Big Market, KMY, Conad, and Diambe, the latter two being the most expensive (it’s Italian) and the cheapest. There are also a couple of Luli shops in the Old Town, one being inside the Fresh Market.
Apart from Conad, no supermarket has its own brand goods.
Away from the main chains, the smaller mini-markets that occur every few metres in the old town or Plazh often stock goods unavailable in the big stores. It’s worth perusing them for cheaper or more locally-sourced goods. They also contain the usual enormous array of crisps and biscuits.
Food that expats find they can’t get in Durrës:
- Cream, whipped or otherwise
- Freshly squeezed fruit juice
- Cooking sauces other than pesto, bolognese and other Italian things, although Mexican and Chinese sauce jars have recently begun to appear in some supermarkets.
- Pre-packaged meals, i.e. tinned or microwaveable trays, tinned or packeted soups,
- Cut and packeted sandwiches
- Flavourings and essences (e.g. vanilla) are limited
- Bread is of fairly limited varieties
- Pork sausages are quite rare, with the majority being beef or chicken
- Scotch Bonnet and Habanero Peppers, Yam, Cassava, Honey Beans, Tamales
- Cilantro (fresh Coriander to us Brits). Some folks contend this is available at Fresh Market, but I’ve not found any.