Learn Hardcore Croatian: Kod općenito zdravog ručka koristimo manje soli i više povrća i začina. - In a generally healthy lunch we use less salt and more vegetables and spices.

The basic, concrete meaning:
- kod Marka = at Marko’s (place)
- kod kuće = at home
A more abstract meaning (the one used in your sentence):
- kod + genitive can mean when it comes to / in the case of / with (regard to).

So Kod općenito zdravog ručka... means something like:

When it comes to a generally healthy lunch,
With a generally healthy lunch,
In the case of a generally healthy lunch,

It introduces the context or situation in which we use less salt and more vegetables and spices.

Why is it zdravog ručka and not zdrav ručak?

Two things are going on:

The preposition kod requires the genitive case.
- Nominative (dictionary form): zdrav ručak
- Genitive singular (masculine): zdravog ručka
Because of kod, ručak must be in the genitive: ručak → ručka.
The adjective has to match that noun in case, gender, and number:
- zdrav → zdravog (masculine, singular, genitive)
So the whole phrase becomes:
- općenito zdravog ručka = of a generally healthy lunch (literally)

If you removed kod, you could say:

Općenito zdrav ručak je važan. – A generally healthy lunch is important.
Here ručak is back in the nominative, so the adjective is zdrav, not zdravog.

Why does općenito stay the same? Shouldn’t it agree and change form like zdravog?

Općenito here is an adverb, not an adjective.

As an adverb, općenito means generally, in general. Adverbs in Croatian do not change for gender, case, or number. They stay the same:
- općenito govoriti – to speak generally
- općenito je zdrav – he is generally healthy
As an adjective, the related form would be općenit, which does change:
- općenita pravila – general rules

In your sentence:

općenito modifies zdrav (how healthy? → generally healthy),
zdrav then agrees with ručak and becomes zdravog (because of the genitive after kod).

So: općenito zdravog ručka = of a generally healthy lunch.
Only zdrav changes to zdravog; općenito stays as it is.

Why is it manje soli and not manje sol or manje sola?

Two points:

Manje (‘less’) is followed by the genitive to express a quantity:
- manje + genitive
- više + genitive
The noun sol (salt) has an irregular paradigm:
- Nominative singular: sol
- Genitive singular: soli

So to say less salt, Croatian uses:

manje soli = less salt (literally “less of salt”)

You can’t say manje sol here because that would be nominative, and after manje you need the genitive.
Manje sola is simply the wrong genitive form; soli is the correct one.

Why are povrća and začina also in the genitive? Why not više povrće i začine?

The same rule as with manje soli applies:

Više + genitive to express “more of something”:
- više povrća – more vegetables
- više začina – more spices
Case of each noun:
- povrće (vegetables) is a neuter, mostly mass noun. Its genitive singular is povrća.
- začin (a spice) is a regular masculine noun:
  - Nominative plural: začini
  - Genitive plural: začina

So više povrća i začina literally means “more of vegetables and (more of) spices”.

If you said više povrće i začine, that would be ungrammatical because više needs the genitive, not nominative or accusative, in this type of quantity expression.

What is the case of začina, and how do I know it’s genitive plural?

The noun začin (spice) declines like a regular masculine noun:

Nominative singular: začin
Genitive singular: začina
Nominative plural: začini
Genitive plural: začina (same form as genitive singular)

So začina can be:

Genitive singular: of a spice
Genitive plural: of spices

In your sentence, the meaning is clearly plural (more spices), not more of one spice, and it follows više, which takes the genitive plural when you’re talking about more than one item. So here začina is genitive plural.

You figure this out from context (više + meaning “spices in general”).

Could I say Kod općenito zdravog ručka jedemo manje soli... instead of koristimo manje soli?

You could, but the nuance is slightly different:

koristimo manje soli – we use less salt
- Focus on how much salt is used in preparation/cooking.
jedemo manje soli – we eat less salt
- Focus on the consumption or intake of salt.

Both are understandable and grammatically correct.
Your original sentence is about how the meal is prepared (less salt used, more vegetables and spices included), so koristimo is a natural choice.

Can I change the word order and say: Koristimo manje soli i više povrća i začina kod općenito zdravog ručka?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct and understandable.

However, there is a slight difference in emphasis:

Kod općenito zdravog ručka koristimo...
- Starts with the context (“when it comes to a generally healthy lunch”), then says what we do in that context.
- Feels like a more typical way to set up a general rule.
Koristimo manje soli i više povrća i začina kod općenito zdravog ručka.
- Starts directly with what we do (use less salt, more vegetables and spices) and adds the context at the end.
- Still fine, just a different stylistic choice.

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, but the original order sounds slightly more natural for stating a general guideline.

Could I use za instead of kod, like Za općenito zdrav ručak koristimo...?

You could say Za općenito zdrav ručak koristimo..., and it would be understood, but:

za + accusative usually has meanings like for / in order to / intended for:
- za ručak – for lunch (as a meal time)
- za djecu – for children
- za zdravlje – for health

That sounds more like for a generally healthy lunch (so that the lunch is healthy), we use... – i.e. with the goal of making it healthy.

kod + genitive in your original sentence is more like “when it comes to / in the case of” a generally healthy lunch – describing how such a lunch typically looks.

Both are usable, but kod općenito zdravog ručka is a bit more neutral and descriptive; za općenito zdrav ručak sounds a bit more like an instruction aimed at achieving that healthy lunch.

What exactly does koristimo express here? Is it a habit or something happening right now?

Koristimo is the present tense, first person plural of koristiti (to use).

In Croatian, the simple present can express:

An action happening right now:
- Sada koristimo blender. – We are using the blender now.
A general habit or rule (the meaning in your sentence):
- Kod općenito zdravog ručka koristimo manje soli...
- This is understood as In general, when we prepare a healthy lunch, we use less salt...

There is no separate “present continuous” form like in English (we are using). Context tells you whether it’s a current action or a habitual/general statement. Here, the wording clearly points to a general guideline or habit.