The national cuisine of Romania was formed under the influence of the cuisines of neighboring countries. Considering that the country has been on important trade routes for a long historical time, the peoples of Ancient Rome, Greece and Turkey influenced the local cuisine. Nature generously rewarded this country with everything necessary for the formation of a diverse and original cuisine. I hope real gourmets will like the local national cuisine. And now, a little more about the dishes that Romanian cuisine is famous for.

Chorba are the pride of the local cuisine. These are special sour stews, the uniqueness of which lies in the fact that a special mixture of wheat bran is prepared for dressing, using the infusion method, which is called "borsh". Chorba can be meat, vegetable, with flour dressing, with egg and sour cream, with dumplings, rice, beans, peas, spinach, tomato, sorrel, sauerkraut - you can’t list them all. I especially recommend trying:

• « chorbya da vakutsa tsaranyaska» - chorba on beef broth with vegetables.
• “chorbia de burte” - beef stomach stew with a delicate taste.
• "Syrbushka" - Chorba with cheese, whey and vegetables.
• "Skimbya" - soup from an ox tripe.
• "lentil soup with garlic and tomato."
• "Romanian soup" - with chicken, carrots, potatoes, parsley, red pepper, butter, vinegar and salt.

An important place in the national cuisine of Romania , occupy meat dishes. For cooking use pork, beef, lamb, poultry. Here are just a few dishes that I hope you enjoy:

• "moussaka" - meat casserole with vegetables.
• Angemacht - boiled meat with sour sauce.
• "chulama" - meat, vegetables and mushrooms, with flour sauce.
• "mititei" - meatballs from minced meat, fried on a wire rack.
• "Sarmaluts" - cabbage rolls from grape leaves.
• "cholan de porc" - fried pork knuckle, with beans and pickles.
• "stufat" - meat roast, with onion dressing.
• "givech" - the most delicate stew, with vegetables and meat.
• "tokana" - stew, with tomato sauce and onions.
• Paprikash - practically the same as tokana, only with sweet red pepper.
• frigurey - Romanian liver skewers
• "Porcolt" - pork with dumplings and red pepper sauce.
• Clarite - Romanian pancakes with meat.

Widely, in the cuisine of Romania, they use various vegetables, fruits, seasonings, spices, cheeses. Especially, I would like to note corn and cornmeal dishes, which have already become the hallmark of Romania. A very satisfying and tasty dish is prepared from cornmeal - “mamaliga « . It is a hard-boiled porridge that often replaces bread. Hominy can be ordinary, fried, in the form of a light snack, pudding and even loaf. According to tradition, it is customary to cut hominy with a thread wound around the index fingers.
In addition, cheeses made from sheep's milk are very popular - "brynza « and "kashakaval « .

An important place in Romanian cuisine is occupied by flour products. Of the dishes that can be called national, I advise you to try:

• "ynvyrtite" (vertuta) - Romanian roll with stuffing.
• "kozonaki" - Easter cake made of puff pastry.
• "parjoale" - flat pies with meat.
• "pascha" - Romanian cheesecake with cottage cheese.
• Bruy is a cheese pie.
• "alivenzi" - sweet pancakes.
• "Papanashi" - cottage cheese pie with sour cream.
• « transylvanian dumplings«.

As a dessert, the local cuisine offers a fruit biscuit, pies with fruit filling, brioche (sweet buns), saralia (sweet braid), kataif (Romanian pastry), baklava « , "Turkish delight" and various types of jam.

From soft drinks, Romanians prefer coffee, black tea, herbal tea, compote and juices. It is impossible to imagine Romanian cuisine without excellent Romanian wines, which are popular not only in the country, but also abroad. The best wines are: Murfatlar, Kotesti, Oporto, Tarnava, Argesh, Graça de Cotnari, Sadova-Korabiya, Dragoshan, Feteaska, Cigarchi and others. Of the stronger drinks, you should try "Tsuyku « (fruit vodka, 60% alcohol), Transylvanian slivovitz and Romanian brandy (" Pietroas”, “Jidway”, “Vasconi”, “Dorobants”). I advise beer lovers: "Ursus", " Timisoreana", "Aurora« .
Welcome to hospitable Romania and bon appetit to all!

on the topic: "National features of Romanian cuisine"

Business student

HARUTYUNYAN Artur Nairievich

General characteristics of Romania

Geographic location

Area: 237.5 thousand km2.

Population: 22.8 million Human.

Official language: Romanian.

Capital: Bucharest (2.5 million inhabitants).

It is located in the southeast of Europe, in the basin of the lower Danube. It borders with Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. In the east it is washed by the waters of the Black Sea.

The country is located in the southeast of Europe. In the southeast it is washed by the Black Sea. In the east - the Danube River (flows into the Black Sea). The main physical and geographical feature of Romania is the Carpathian mountain system. This complex chain of mountains runs across the country from the Ukrainian border in the north to the border with Yugoslavia in the southwest in the form of a horseshoe, closing to the west of the Apushen mountains, and consists of a curving line of the Eastern Carpathians and an east-western line of the Southern Carpathians (Transylvanian Alps) . These interconnected mountain ranges are part of the Alpine folded mountain system that stretches from Western Europe into Asia. The mountains themselves consist of parallel ridges with steep ledges, covered with forest up to the very peaks, which reach a height of 2300 m in the Carpathians and 2544 m (Mount Moldoveanu) in the Transylvanian Alps. In the west, the Transylvanian Alps stretch south, reaching the Danube at the Iron Gates, and continuing into Yugoslavia.

On the outer side of this mountain arc are the historical regions of Moldavia (to the east) and Wallachia (south of the Transylvanian Alps up to the Danube). Both are hilly plains with fertile and intensively cultivated lands. The only area located south of the Danube - Dobruja - has low hills and is partially swampy.

Inside the mountain arc of the Carpathians is Transylvania (called Erdeli by the Hungarians) - a hilly, highly fertile and very beautiful territory. On its western outskirts, inside the Apushen mountains, there is an unevenly forested Bihor massif. Behind them, along the western edge of the country, stretches a narrow lowland strip, which is part of the Middle Danube Plain.

In the life of Romania, like any other modern country, the features of the new time and traditional culture are intertwined. In all peasant yards, one building has an unchanged appearance - a summer kitchen with an open hearth, over which a boiler is suspended on a chain. In the internal planning of houses, two types are distinguished: southern and northern. The first is found in most of the country and is typical not only for Romania, but also for the Danube regions of Bulgaria. A feature of these houses, typical of the steppe regions, is the central location of a warm vestibule with a hearth. In the north, another type of buildings is common: in the middle there are cold vestibules, and on the sides - rooms. There are analogues of houses with such a layout in Ukrainian and Belarusian villages.

National cuisine features

Romania is a predominantly agricultural country with a predominance of crop production, the basis of the Romanian national cuisine is dishes from vegetables, corn, dairy products, fish and meat, mainly lamb, pork and poultry. String beans, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, carrots, as well as potatoes are used to prepare various salads, independent vegetable dishes - stuffed potatoes, potato cutlets, green beans with sauce, cabbage with various sauces, fried zucchini, stuffed zucchini and side dishes to hot meals.

Charcoal spit roasting is very common in Romania, especially for eggplant and sweet peppers. They are rotated on a spit over the heat until the top skin is fried and blistering. Then the peel is removed, and from the core they make something like pasta or salad, which are spiced with smoke, which gives them a unique taste.

One of the best dishes that Romanian cuisine offers is eggplant caviar with the addition of lightly fried onions, olive oil, aromatic herbs and spices.

A special place in Romanian cuisine is occupied by corn. A wide range of different dishes is prepared from it: cereals, salads. Corn is combined with vegetables, fish, meat. The Italian influence shows itself in the steep corn porridge that is cut - hominy, it is rated even higher than Italian polenta. Her complete Hominy de aur, i.e. gold bread. In some cases, hominy is even bread. It is eaten with milk, cheese, ghee, served with soups, fish, tsam, etc., cold and hot. It has a high taste and quality.

From dairy products, Romanian culinary specialists use cottage cheese, brynza, and various types of cheeses. It should be noted this feature: Romanians, as a rule, prefer warmed milk.

The Danube Delta owes Romanian cuisine to rich stocks of freshwater fish and another typical Romanian dish - a snack made from carp caviar - the game of trampoline.

In the assortment of soups, one of the main places is occupied by various chorba - a soup that is prepared on an acidic infusion of wheat bran. It also includes carrots, parsley, potatoes, onions, beans, beets, tomatoes, capsicum and other vegetables. This type of soup can also be found among the neighboring Slavic peoples, and very different versions of borscht come with it. Vegetables in chorba are laid fresh, young, and in no case fried. This is how chorba differs from Ukrainian borscht and other dressing soups. also broths with rice, semolina, dumplings, noodle soup with chicken, vegetable soups.

A large amount of garlic is used throughout the Balkan Peninsula, but in combination with walnuts it can only be found among the Caucasian peoples on the opposite coast of the Black Sea. The exception is found only in Romania and typical for Romanian cuisine, a sauce of white bread and walnuts with a fair amount of garlic - skordolya. Among the hot dishes, dishes from well-done natural pork or lamb meat and poultry predominate. Dishes from fish, crayfish, snails are popular. The main method of heat treatment for the preparation of hot dishes is gratar, i.e. roasting on a grill (Gratar - grill). Meat and fish are prepared on the grill. The most common hot dishes include cabbage rolls in vine leaves, grilled roast, chicken or pork token, veal cupama (goulash) with white sauce, mititei - grilled sausages made from minced meat. Chicken meat is prepared in various ways, chickens with apricots are especially tasty.

The Transylvanian Saxons (as the Transylvanian Germans are called) also retained some of their characteristic dishes, such as layered cabbage.

The peculiarities of the geographical position of Romania determined the influence on the Romanian cuisine of the national cuisines of neighboring countries - Bulgaria, Turkey and others. It manifests itself both in the names and in the methods of preparing some dishes. Such, for example, are pilaf, moussaka, yahnia, plakia. Romanians eat a lot of fruits and gourds - watermelons, melons, pumpkins. Romanian cuisine is characterized by a wide range of flour culinary products. Particularly popular are flour products made from puff pastry, pies stuffed with meat, feta cheese, fruit and jam, cookies stuffed with ground nuts and sugar. From drinks, Romanians prefer coffee (the legacy of the Ottoman yoke), they are very fond of various juices, compotes, but do not eat jelly. Popularly, the favorite drink of Romanians is wine. Viticulture in Romania has its roots in the Greek era. But wines that are preferred are not easy. These are mainly red grape wines and tinctures and liqueurs. Romanians are justifiably proud of their slivovitz, which is more common among hard alcoholic drinks.

Balmush (honeymoon in milk)

Sparse hominy is boiled in milk diluted with water. Cheese is combined with it, stirred, laid out on a dish and served hot with sour cream.

Corn flour 80, milk 200, water 50, cheese 40, salt.

Hominy dumplings

Sparse hominy is combined with butter and grated cheese. Small dumplings are cut with a spoon, moistened in beaten eggs, rolled in crushed breadcrumbs and fried on all sides in lard. Served with sour cream and grated cheese.

Hominy 100, butter 5, grated cheese 10, egg 1 pc, crackers 10, melted lard 10.

Onions stuffed with garlic

Onions and garlic are scalded, the core is removed from the onion and crushed together with garlic in a mortar, adding salt, pepper, a little vegetable oil. The bulbs are filled with this mixture, placed on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and browned in an oven.

Hominy

Pour salt and a little cornmeal into boiling water. After the water boils a second time, pour in all the flour at once in a slide and separate it in two with a mixer. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes, then thoroughly stir all the flour, pressing the stirrer against the sides of the pan. If the hominy is liquid, add a little more cornmeal, stirring continuously. To determine the degree of readiness of hominy, a stirrer is lowered vertically into the pan and quickly rotated between the palms. If there is no hominy left on the mixer, the dish is ready. Otherwise, hominy should be left on fire. Before laying out the hominy, the mass is raked from the walls of the pan to the center with a spoon soaked in water, left for some time on the fire, then the pan is shaken several times and overturned on the board. Cut the hominy with a thin cord or a wooden knife.

You can be completely sure that you will not stay hungry in Romania, but on the contrary, you will be able to try many delicious and interesting dishes. Problems can arise only for those who are constantly on a diet and watch their figure, they are unlikely to like the local cuisine, since fatty, nutritious and high-calorie foods are mainly used in cooking here. You can compensate for extra calories thanks to active hiking in the mountains. Vegetables are loved and respected here, they are present on almost every table, but at the same time they eat a lot of bread and meat.

If you want to try some kind of first course, then first of all you will be offered the most famous and popular local soup - chorba. This is a sour soup with meat, herbs and vegetables. There are many varieties of this dish, but soups with beans and smoked meats, meatballs or cooked in a rustic way are considered the most delicious. In addition to sour cream and bread, this dish is served with hot peppers. For themselves, Romanians try to cook this soup with beef broth.

Romania will definitely appeal to cheese lovers. For locals, cheese is more than a national product; not a single feast is complete without it. Here you can try cow, goat and sheep cheese, each of which has an excellent taste, as only natural ingredients are used during preparation, without any chemicals and non-natural additives. To try all the types that are produced in the country, even a few trips will not be enough (each region has its own traditions and old recipes that are passed down from generation to generation).

In addition to cheeses, Romanians consume milk (mainly in a warm form), some first courses are prepared on the basis of whey, and sour cream is used as dressings and various sauces are made on its basis.

From meat dishes, you will be offered various sausages, shish kebabs, baked meat cooked with sour cream, cheese, etc. Just like us, Romanians eat almost all types of meat and poultry, so this culinary similarity should be a definite plus for you. I recommend trying such a meat dish as "sarmale". In appearance and taste, it has certain similarities with our cabbage rolls. Usually it includes pork or beef (goat, lamb or poultry meat is used much less often). The meat is wrapped in sorrel leaves, grapes, pickled or fresh cabbage. After that, the dish is boiled in a clay pot or cauldron and served only hot.

Sweet lovers will also find something to eat in this hospitable country. If somewhere on the menu you see such a dish as Cozonac cu nuca, then you can safely order it - you won't regret it. This is a fragrant and juicy cake, which contains a lot of ground walnuts. It is the nut cake that is considered the best, but it also happens with Turkish delight, chocolate and other ingredients.

Papanasi are cottage cheese donuts served with sour cream and cherry jam (one serving consists of two donuts). The dish is quite hearty, and the donuts themselves are large, so tourists are advised to order one dish for two.

Those who are not indifferent to different types of jam should definitely try the local jam or jelly, which is called “loop”. It is prepared not from the fruits themselves, but from their juice. The juice is boiled for a long time on low heat, and then in the process of cooling it becomes thick and transparent.

Romanians treat alcohol very positively and drink it in large quantities. Beer is drunk in small quantities and mostly only light, but they drink a lot of wine (mainly local production and often diluted with water). In the first place in popularity, you can put fruit moonshine, which has two varieties: palinka and tsuyka. Palinka is a very strong moonshine that reaches 40 degrees, while palinka is much weaker (only 20-30 degrees). The local population believes that the best weak moonshine is obtained from black plums, but you don’t need to drink it right away, but you need to keep it in special barrels for at least three years.

You don't have to worry about the prices in public catering establishments, they are more than democratic.

The main feature of Romanian cuisine is a wide variety of dishes. Romanian cuisine has been influenced by many cultures: the ancient Greeks with whom Romanians traded, the Romans who gave the country its name, the Saxons who settled in southern Transylvania, and Slavic and Hungarian neighbors. All these cultures have gradually merged into a rather diverse Romanian culinary tradition.

We hope that tasting the cuisine is a must for you when traveling in another country. - not an exception! It may seem strange that when you come to Romania you will only eat pizza, go to McDonald's or go to Chinese restaurants simply because you don't know what to try.

Sarmale

I would like to start with Sarmale. Basically, this is minced meat wrapped in cabbage or grape leaves. Pairs well with polenta (water, salt and cornmeal) and sour cream.

Meat dishes

In restaurants, chicken or pork stews are very popular in addition to vegetables. The visiting card of Romanian cuisine is Mamaliga - a garlic soup made from hot chili peppers and vinegar.

Karnati, a dish of pork liver and intestines, is also a favorite. Other meat extras are Frigerui (meat on skewers), Mititei (grilled meat rolls) and Schnitzel (breaded veal or beef cutlets).

vegetable dishes

Several options for vegetarians: Givech (salad of fried vegetables), stuffed eggs, Mamaliga ((bulz de mamaliga cu branza) is polenta mixed with cheese.

Soups

In Romania, there is an opinion that there is no meal without soups. Chicken, beef, vegetable and bean soups are very popular.

Dessert

In Romania, there is a wide variety of pancakes with different fillings. Other famous desserts include baklava (very sweet layered dough), pandispan (biscuit), gingerbread, papanasi (jam donut topped with sour cream), and rice pudding.

Alcohol

And what about without alcohol? In Romania you can find a wide variety of wines. But the main drink here is Tsuika. It is made from plums, apples or peaches.

Because of the flavor of this drink, Tsuika is often referred to as "rocket fuel".
In traditional Romanian restaurants you can hear Romanian folk music. Music leaves an unforgettable impression!

We hope that our list has aroused your great interest in Romanian cuisine. Ask our staff about the restaurants you can visit and you will have an unforgettable evening! As we say in Romania: Pofta Buna!

Romania is one of the Balkan countries with an interesting history and varied nature. Chernomorskoye attracts with its clean and warm sea, the same clean sandy beaches and excellent resort infrastructure. In Bukovina, you can see unique Christian monasteries, painted on the outside with frescoes that retain their colors for centuries. In the Romanian Carpathians is a third of Europe's mineral water reserves. Balneological and thermal resorts treat the widest range of diseases. In this they are helped by picturesque nature and mountain air. Fans of skiing also come to the Carpathians, there are many trails for any level of training.

The main tourist mecca is the mysterious and famous region of the country. Castles and fortresses among the mountains covered with dense forests, cities with beautiful medieval architecture. In Transylvania lies the most popular tourist route Dracula Tour.

Any type of tourism becomes gastronomic, because travelers need food, and with a national flavor. There is something to try in Romania!

Food in Romania

What is the first association with the word Romania? Dracula and hominy. The main cereal crop of the country, corn, is widely used in a variety of dishes. But it is hominy that is the hallmark of Romanian cuisine and the personification of its basic principles: delicious food made from simple products. Most of the other dishes were born under the influence of Turkish, Hungarian and German cuisine.

Romanian cuisine is replete with vegetables, they are used in almost all first and second courses, at least as a side dish. Stuffed peppers, zucchini, eggplant and even kohlrabi, great garlic sauce and, of course, moussaka. Trying combinations of vegetables grown under the Romanian sun is a real pleasure.

Among dairy products, soft cheeses are interesting, you should definitely try feta cheese. For meat dishes use poultry or pork. Except for Transylvania, the most famous and mysterious region of Romania. There, in the spirit of Count Dracula, a sheep in clay or on a spit, roasted from bear paws is skillfully cooked to show tourists, emphasizing the flavor of traveling through the castles of the famous vampire.

On the coast, fish and seafood are considered the main dishes. The range is huge. The gifts of the Black Sea are traditional flounder, mullet, mackerel, as well as shrimps and mussels. Food from the bottom of the sea is masterfully prepared - Romanian chefs do not score the leading note, despite the spices and seasonings. River fish is even tastier. The second longest river in Europe is home to sturgeons, catfish, pikes and the dream of fishermen - the beluga. Therefore, fishing trips to the Danube Delta attract lovers from many countries. The fish is cooked in the favorite Romanian way - on the grill, it is used to make excellent stews with vegetables. River fish in a special brine is called saramura, it is not for everyone, but it's worth a try.

Top 10 Romanian dishes

Lots of options. The most national dish in the base is hard or soft corn porridge. It is boiled, fried or baked. Depending on the method of preparation, it can be a pudding, a snack, and even bread. The main colorful action is cutting hominy in the old way. A harsh thread is wound around the index fingers and the loaf is cut into equal parts with it.

Urda

Sometimes it sounds like a voodoo. Cheese made from sheep's milk, grayish in color. From the same milk, you can try kashkaval, it is yellow and looks more appetizing, but both are delicious. As well as telemea, creamy cheese is already white in color.

The pride of the local cuisine. This is the collective name for soups, rather, sour stews. Feature - in the gas station. It is infused wheat bran. The broth can be vegetable or meat. Other ingredients range from dumplings and beans to tomatoes, zucchini and spinach. Delicate chorba de burte from beef stomach or chorba with vegetables, cheese and whey are appreciated by exotic lovers. Absolutely everyone likes chorba on beef broth with an incredibly wide range of vegetables. A kaleidoscope of such stews allows you to try a new chorba every day of your stay in the country.

Small cylinders, similar to small, without shell, sausages. They are prepared from minced meat on a grate - a thick metal grate over charcoal made of beech, walnut and other hardwoods. Mititei are always served ruddy, very juicy, with garlic and spices.

Angemacht

It would seem, who can be surprised by stew. It's all about the white sauce with the addition of lemon. This sour sauce gives the meat a special taste and proves once again that delicious dishes come out of ordinary products. Of the stews, you should also try givech (tender meat with vegetables) and chulama, where mushrooms are added to meat and vegetables.

The composition resembles dolma: the same minced meat with rice. Leaves can be grape or pickled cabbage. The principle of cooking, in a rib broth, makes sarmale one of the must-try dishes. In some areas of Romania, it is considered a wedding treat.

Cholan de porc

Melting in your mouth pork leg, well fried and smoked. Its traditional side dish is yahnia (stewed beans). The garnish seems heavy, but, in combination with the leg, it simply amazes with its great taste.

friguray

What we call barbecue. Meat on skewers cooked on charcoal. The most common and at the same time the most delicious is frigurei from the liver.

Transylvanian apple pie

From shortcrust pastry with the most delicate apple filling, to which raisins and cognac are added. The filling, honey-almond, resembles German pastries, from where it is borrowed, like apple strudel, another replica of Austro-German cooking.

Turkish heritage of Romania. Cakes, the dough for which is rubbed with thin threads on a special device. Ready cakes are dipped in fruit syrup. Romanians also adopted baklava, Turkish delight and gogoshi from Turkish confectioners. The latter can also be considered a collective name. In different parts of Romania, donuts and shortcakes with nuts are called so.