Page 43 - Fall2013

ROMANIAN CUISINE herds’ traditional “sandwich” consists of a The common
Romanian gastronomy is a diverse blend paste made from raw slanina mixed with bread eaten
of different dishes from several traditions with onion and parsley;
which it has come into contact, but it also main- • Lebervurst: chicken or pork liver pâté. daily is a
tains its own character. The Romanians share round,
many foods with the Balkan area (in which The Christmas meal is sweetened with the two-pound
Turkey was the principal cultural influence), traditional cozonac, a sweet bread enriched with
with Central Europe (mostly in the form of nuts and poppy seeds. The common bread eaten sourdough loaf
German-Austrian dishes introduced through daily is traditionally a round, two-pound sour- baked in stone
Hungary or by the Saxons in Transylvania) and dough loaf. Sometimes potatoes are added to the ovens.
Eastern Europe. Some others are original or can dough, and baked in stone ovens.
be traced to the Romans and Dacians and other At Easter, lamb is served. The main dishes
ancient civilizations. are bors de miel (lamb sour soup), roast lamb
Quite different types of dishes are sometimes and drob de miel, a Romanian-style lamb haggis
included under a generic term; for example, the made of minced offal (heart, liver, lungs) with
category ciorba, which is a staple, includes a spices and then roasted.
wide range of soups with a characteristic sour Many people eat a variety of fermented veg-
taste. These may be meat, bones and vegetable etables during fall and winter, such as sauerkraut,
soups, or fish soups, all of which are soured by green tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, carrots, celery,
sauerkraut juice, or traditional bors, a fermented cauliflower, small watermelons and red cabbage.
sour drink made from wheat bran. In the summertime, tomatoes, eggplants, onions,
One of the most common meals is the ma- spinach and stinging nettle (in late spring),
maliga, a type of polenta made with cornmeal, squash, corn, bell peppers, and a variety of fruits
served on its own, with a variety of raw cheeses are commonly consumed.
and sour cream, or as a side dish. Wine is the preferred alcoholic drink. The
Before Christmas, on December 20 (Ignat's Romanian wine industry has a long tradition of
Day or Ignatul in Romanian), most rural families over three millennia and the country is the ninth
traditionally slaughter a pig. A variety of foods largest wine producer in the world (2009) with
are prepared for Christmas from the slaughtered an export market that is constantly growing.
pig cured in a unique, old fashioned way. They A perhaps surprising fact is that Romania
include: is the world’s second largest producer of plums;
seventy-five percent of the plums harvested in
• Carnati: raw sausages that may be smoked Romania are transformed into the famous tuica
and/or dry-cured; (plum brandy). An internationally sought-after
• Caltabos: sausage based on liver with con- plum jam or plum butter called magiun de prune
sistency from fine (pâté) to coarse; Topoloveni is a delicious product made in the
• Sangerete: (black pudding) a sausage pre- traditional way with no sugar added slow cooked
pared from a mixture of pig's blood and fat for a long time.
and meat, grain or bread crumbs, and spices; The amazing biodiversity of the Danube
• Toba: (headcheese) based on pig's feet, ears Delta adds the benefit of specific, traditional
and meat from the head suspended in gelatin dishes to the Romanian gastronomy, such as roe
and stuffed in pig stomach; salad made from carp, pike or various marine fish;
• Tochitura: pan-fried cubed pork served with carp in brine; and sour fish soup with fermented
mamaliga and wine; bors.
• Piftie: inferior parts of the pig, mainly the
tail, feet, and ears, spiced with garlic and RAW DAIRY
served in bone gelatin; Romania is both a big raw dairy consumer
• Jumari: dried pork remaining from rendering and producer, through small, rural, traditional
of the fat and imbued with various spices; farms. Most of the cheeses are made of cow's or
• Slanina: smoked raw pork fat. The shep- sheep's milk, but also from goat’s milk. One of
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