Building a Gypsy Oven – Preserving a Living Roma Tradition

We begin this year by presenting a precious example of Roma cultural heritage in Serbia: the Gypsy oven (“ciganska peć” in Serbian). This traditional outdoor oven reflects deep knowledge of natural materials, community-based skills, and the close connection between food, land, and everyday life.

As part of the project, Marija Mišković and Ivan Civrić from Bački Monoštor shared the full process of building a gypsy oven in their garden. Using mud, tiles, and other locally available materials, they demonstrated a technique passed down through generations, showing how simple resources can be transformed into a durable and highly functional cooking space.

When built properly, a gypsy oven can remain outdoors for several seasons and be used for a wide variety of meals. From bread, cookies, and pies to slow-cooked meat dishes, the oven supports diverse forms of traditional cooking while bringing people together around shared preparation and meals.

This practice is more than a technical skill — it is a form of intangible cultural heritage. The gypsy oven embodies values of sustainability, self-sufficiency, and communal knowledge, reminding us that food traditions are inseparable from the environments and cultures in which they develop. By documenting and sharing this process, Roma Soul Food helps ensure that such knowledge remains visible, valued, and accessible to future generations.

The building process in images: