Finding comfort in community
Local
There’s something instantly comforting upon entering Impressa Café in Unley Shopping Centre.
Maybe it’s the smell traditional Croatian cuisine being prepared, the gentle hum of the coffee machine, or laughter intermingled with thick Croatian accents as a group of women sit around a table and tell stories of faith, food, and migration.
Café owner Jadranka Eldic and her husband moved to Australia from Croatia as newlyweds in 1982. When they arrived, she was pregnant with her first son and couldn’t speak any English. During her first job at a suburban chicken shop, she was often baffled by customer requests. “I learnt the words ‘chicken’ and ‘bag’ but people would ask for a ‘chook,’ or ‘one bird’.”
Looking back, she finds it amusing but at the time the learning curve was steep and lonely. Her church became a lifeline and the local Croatian Club community become a second family. When long-time friend Vesna Saric and her husband visited in 1988 they were welcomed with open arms.
“We came from the same region, from Slavonia,” Jadranka says. “Her husband and I were neighbours. We grew up together.” Their village, Trenkovo, was small but beautiful. “There’s a little castle which was our school.”
When war broke out back home, Vesna’s decision to remain in Australia was shaped by their children. Work was hard, study was expensive, and the early years were a grind. “I did all kind of works until the kids grew up,” Vesna says. “But when we arrived in Adelaide, Jadranka introduced us to the club and to St Patrick’s Church and that’s how we integrated. Our community really made us happy.”
The organisation of dinner dances, feast days and children’s performances helped everyone stay connected. “The Croatian Club would have 600 people for lunch, and a kid’s program on the stage,” Jadranka says.
Faith may be the heart of the community, but food plays a big part in connection. From their humble shopping-centre eatery, the family has spent decades quietly introducing Adelaide locals to Croatian flavours.
“We do sarma, which is cabbage rolls,” says Jadranka’s daughter Diana as she serves regulars. “And then we do čevapčići – different versions – and three different types of goulash; pork, beef and chicken. Soups, of which there eight different types, are Croatian inspired. One of the most enduring favourites is a hearty bean soup.
As Mother’s Day (May 10) and the annual Marian Procession (May 17) approach, Jadranka and Vesna (who is also a grandmother) have the next generation front of mind.
“I think it’s important for the kids to go to church every Sunday, believing in God and be respectful, honest and good people,” Vesna says.
“As society becomes more materialistic and technology driven, it’s good to keep reminding them to be humble and honest. Money doesn’t define our human existence and doesn’t fulfil happiness. Who are the happiest people? The poor people.
Unfortunately, you need material things to pay the bills but it’s not really the most important thing. Faith is becoming more and more important. Younger people are coming back to church. In France this year, 25,000 people were baptised compared with the year before, when there were only 4000 people.”
Vesna is proud of her three boys and the way they are raising her grandchildren.
“I think it’s very important for them to have faith, tradition and culture. Otherwise, I’m scared they get lost in today’s way of living.”
She urges people to think deeper.
“People get forced into living in a material world but somehow, with all these wars and how hard you had to work just to pay the bills, people are starting to rethink if it’s worth it.
“Life is very short. You live spend your first 20 years or more at school, and then next 40 years working, just to die. Family, friends and community – that’s what really makes us happy.”
