Bosna

Bosna is a spicy Austrian fast food sandwich resembling a hot dog, made with a bratwurst sausage, onions and a mix of mustard or ketchup with curry powder. It is especially popular in western Austria and southern Bavaria.

History

Its origin is usually placed in Salzburg, although some sources point to Linz. The most widely told account credits Zanko Todoroff, a Bulgarian who in 1949 sold a sausage with chopped onion, parsley and a spice blend, half-wrapped in white paper on a sliced bread roll.

The snack proved so popular that Todoroff could open his own small shop in the city centre in 1950. Because locals could not remember the Bulgarian name of his sausage, the dish came to be called bosna, a name that spread across Salzburg and Upper Austria. Another version holds that it was invented in Linz in 1974 by a Yugoslav immigrant, although that attribution is less well supported.

Culture

Bosna is a common street food, especially in Salzburg, Linz and other towns in Upper Austria. It is served on white bread, usually grilled briefly before serving. In Salzburg it is traditionally eaten without ketchup, while in Upper Austria, particularly Linz, mustard and ketchup are standard. In Tyrol, Sankt Johanner sausages replace bratwurst.

Variants include the Kleine Bosna, with one sausage; the Große Bosna, with two; and the Kafka, named after Franz Kafka, which uses a spiced meat sausage with cheese.