One of the most firmly held Croatian traditions, observed by catholics and non-catholics alike, is to eat cod (stockfish) on Christmas eve (December 24th). In most cases it is prepared as a brudet (from Italian brodetto), made from dried cod, with potatoes. But why, oh why? Cod is not a native fish in the Adriatic sea, so Croatian fishermen in old times definitely could not have initiated this custom…

Even if the origin is not completely clear, most probably this is how it arose. In the 15th century the Republic of Venice ruled most of the Croatian coast, and many Croatian seamen and merchants were employed by Venice, and Venetian goods easily found their way to markets in Croatian coastal towns.

In 1432 Venetian nobleman, merchant Pietro Querini suffered a shipwreck near Cadiz, but his boat was carried by streams to the Lofoten islands, where he and a few of his surviving mates were rescued by Norvegian fishermen. There he was introduced to dried cod and its preparation, and he was so delighted by it that he brought it back to Venice and its dominions. Some tales say it was just before Christmas when Querini returned, and attribute the custom to this. More probably however it was due to the Council of Trent, which ended in 1563 and, among other things, prescribed many fasting days for catholics, more specifically fish and in particular codfish, a that time a fish for the poor (nowadays it is quite a little luxury in Croatia 😂) as a suitable Christmas eve food. Thus it became a classic in Italy and Croatia… So, if you ever find yourself in these parts on Christmas eve, don’t miss out on our Mediterranean style of Norvegian fish 🐠

Reference: https://svijet.com.hr/kako-je-bakalar-ukrao-badnjak/