Dalmatia was co-founded in 1995 in Florida by Maia Magee, who hails from Massachusetts. (I didn't discover the identity of her co-founder.) I wasn't able to discover if Ms. Magee is Croatian in heritage, or even if she was born there, and not in the U.S. If you're wondering, Dalmatia is a region of Croatia. The fruit used by the brand Dalmatia is grown in Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, and some other, unspecified Mediterranean nations. Aside from the two I tried, Dalmatia makes a fig spread (which is their flagship product), a fig orange kind, and three new spread flavors--rose hip, hazelnut, and super berry. Dalmatia's products are all vegan-appropriate, gluten-free, GMO free, and aside from the hazelnut one are free from nuts, even at their manufacturing facilities. And if you order in bulk, they'll have your spreads made kosher.
But, the most interesting thing about Dalmatia to me was the court case mentioned on their website. Which, by coincidence, also involved the last spread I posted about, the Divina brand, and its parent company FoodMatch. (See my post on September 30, 2023.) From 2007-15 Dalmatia had a business partnership with FoodMatch, which distributed their spreads. Alas, this relationship soured, and the partnership ended. A couple of years later Dalmatia went to court against their former partners. And so in February of 2017 a verdict was reached, finding FoodMatch guilty of misappropriating Dalmatia's recipe for fig spread, and also for flooding the market with counterfeit fig spreads falsely labeled as being "Dalmatia." Part of this case was the first one under the 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act. Anyway, the jury awarded Dalmatia $2,567,000, so evidently they agreed that the actions against Dalmatia were quite serious. So this is a new one for me--one of the companies I wrote about ripped off another company I posted about, and paid a large fine. (I wonder why the Divina/FoodMatch website didn't mention this case? Ha, just kidding, I obviously do know why they left this nugget of information out.)
Dalmatia tangerine spread: Orange color, looks like typical fig spread. Plain is nice. Tangy and citrus-y. On a roll was a good combo. The bread and sweet spread complimented each other well.
Dalmatia sour cherry spread: This one looked like cranberry sauce, but was less firm. The flavor was rather like cranberry sauce, too. Tangy and tart. Quite good plain, and also pleasing on a roll. Again, a good pairing. Both of these were good spreads, but I liked the sour cherry one a bit more. Both were good, but maybe a tad short of awesome. I'd recommend each of these to anyone who likes tart fruit spreads
As I often do, now let's discuss some famous Croatians, also known as Croats. As I learned, there are tons of these, so I had to limit this list significantly. Anyway, writer/director/producer Werner Herzog was born in Germany, but has some Croatian heritage. Herzog is known for such films as "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972), "Nosferatu the Vampire" (1979), "Fitzcarraldo" (1982), "Cobra Verde" (1987), "Invincible" (2001), and the documentary "Grizzly Man" (2005). He was also once shot during an interview, and continued on like it wasn't a big deal. Staying on those behind the scenes in movies, there's Branko Lustig. He was born in what's now Croatia, with Croatian heritage. Lustig won Oscars for Best Picture for producing "Schindler's List" (1993) and "Gladiator" (2000). He also served as unit production manager/supervisor for such films as "Sophie's Choice" (1982) "Black Hawk Down" (2001), and "American Gangster" (2007). Actor John Malkovich was born in the U.S., but has Croatian ancestry. He appeared in such films as "Places in the Heart" (1984), "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988), "Queens Logic" (1991), "In the Line of Fire" (1993) "Con Air" (1997), "Being John Malkovich" (1999), "RED" (2010) and "RED 2" (2013), and "Bird Box" (2018). Actress Jenna Elfman was also born in the U.S., but has significant Croatian heritage. Highlights of her career include such films as "Grosse Point Blank" (1997(, "EDtv" (1999), "Town & Country" (2001), and "Friends with Benefits" (2015), and television shows such as "Dharma & Greg" (1997-02) and "Fear the Walking Dead" (2018-23). Then there's singer/songwriter Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, better known by her stage name Lorde. She was born in New Zealand, but is of Croatian heritage. Still active, she's already sold over 5,000,000 albums and has won 2 Grammys.
Moving to sports, quite a few Croatians/Croatian Americans have had significant NBA careers. Five of them have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame, even. Many of them first had success in Croatian or other European League teams as well. First up, there's Croatian born Dino Radja, a power forward/center with the Boston Celtics from 1993-97. Per game he averaged 16.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.3 blocks, and accumulated 14.3 Win Shares. Drazen Petrovic was also born in what's now Croatia, and played from 1989-93 with the Portland Trail Blazers and New Jersey Nets. A shooting guard, per game he averaged 15.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.1 blocks, and accumulated 21.5 Win Shares. Tragically, he died very young in a car accident, cutting his NBA career very short. Croatian born forward Toni Kukoc played mainly with the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks, from 1993-2006. His per game averages were 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.3 blocks, and a Win Share total of 59.6. He also was a part of 3 NBA title teams. Kevin McHale was born in the U.S,, but had Croatian heritage on his mother's side. Kevin played power forward for the Boston Celtics from 1981-93. His per game averages were 17.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.4 steals, and 1.7 blocks. He also was named an All-Star 7 times, was part of 3 NBA title winning teams, and totaled 113 Win Shares. Finally, there's U.S. born, but with Croatian heritage, center George Mikan, who played with the Minneapolis Lakers from 1948-56. Per game he averaged 23.1 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. (Alas, statistics from the league's early days aren't as complete, so that's all I have.) Mikan was part of 5 NBA title winning teams, and accumulated 108.7 Win Shares. He was also so dominant that the NBA had to change several rules so that other teams had even a slight chance against him.
I'll end with a tale about a mythical monster from Croatia. Jure Grando reportedly lived from 1579-1656 in Kringa, a village in the Istria region of Croatia. However, local lore insisted that for 16 years after his death he remained as an undead strigon, a vampire/warlock hybrid. He terrorized his community--among other atrocities his widow, Ivana, claimed he regularly sexually assaulted her. Attempts to kill him with wooden stakes were unsuccessful. Eventually a villager named Stipan Milasic ended Grando's reign of terror by cutting the monster's head off with a saw. I know, vampires, and other undead creatures aren't real, but this story is credited as one of the earlier, if not earliest, detailed historic record of an alleged vampiric-type monster.
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