ZAGREB, 14 Aug (Hina) - The Society of Friends of Dalmatia, an association founded in Brazil by Croatian emigrants from the island of Korčula, will hold a workshop on Sunday in São Paulo to teach how to prepare lumblija, a traditional sweet bread from Korčula.

Croats from the Korčula towns of Blato and Vela Luka arrived in Brazil in 1925 to work on coffee plantations and later settled in São Paulo.

The Society of Friends of Dalmatia, established in 1959 in this South American city, is marking 100 years since their ancestors arrived in the Belenzinho and Mooca neighbourhoods.

"Apart from dreams and hope, Croatian women brought with them a recipe for making lumblija - over 200 years old - that is tied to the Napoleonic wars and a beautiful love story,” said the society’s president, Katia Gavranich Camargo.

Lumblija is a traditional sweet bread from Korčula, with the recipe known in Blato and Vela Luka being passed down from generation to generation.

According to a legend from Blato, lumblija dates back to the time of Napoleon’s rule. When the French army was leaving the island, a young French soldier-baker gave a local girl a cake as a farewell gift. As they parted, he told her “ne m’oublie pas” (“don’t forget me”), but since she didn’t understand French, she heard it as “lumblija”.

In Vela Luka, however, it is believed that the bread’s history goes back to the 13th century, during the time of Marco Polo and the conflict between the Venetian and Genoese fleets. According to local lore, three galleys returning from battle hid in a deep bay where the townspeople supplied them with fresh water and fragrant sweet bread.

Participants in the workshop in São Paulo will learn to make lumblija at the premises of the Society of Friends of Dalmatia.

"They will also learn a bit more about the presence of Croats in São Paulo,” said Gavranich Camargo. “It will be a delicious journey into the past,” she added.

According to Croatia’s Central State Office for Croats Abroad, around 80,000 Croats and their descendants live in Brazil. The first Croatian settlers, mainly from Gorski Kotar, central Croatia, and Slavonia,  arrived in the late 19th century in search of work, while some political emigrants came after World War II.