Poftă bună!

Pink coliflowers and green tomatoes.. Welcome to Romania!

Going to a foreign country, especially for a longer period, you'll quickly realize that it's more or less unavoidable to get in touch with its traditional cuisine, in the case of Romania definitely worthwile! Reason enough to dedicate a blog text to this lovely aspect of this just as lovely country.
So, here are some of the must-eats:


Mici: the name (literal translation: the small ones) might suggest a light cute appetizer but as soon as these intensely seasoned minced meat rolls reach your innards they'll make you feel more than lightly appetized, that's for sure! If this sounds familiar to you as an experienced Balkan traveller, yepp, you're right, probably you've also experienced this dish in Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, ... Nevertheless, Romanians chose a much easier name to be pronounced than the bulky word "ćevapčići". But not every dish grants you this advantage, just wait for the point when it comes to ordering the side dish. Because the most common thing to be eaten with mici is:

Cartofi prajiti: Ouch, this word seems indeed a bit like a bunch of spilled Scrabble pieces on the floor and accordingly difficult it is to pronounce this properly. You will get closest to the actual result with one of them in your mouth while ordering.. it means nothing more than French fries! I was used to eat them with a lot of mayonnaise and ketchup (also known as "Pommes rot-weiß") and tried to order it like this which only got me a very weird look of the waiter. Better choose mustard, especially in the combination with mici!



Șnițel: Here we have another example of how internationally influenced the Romanian cuisine is. This time though, there is no connection with other Balkan countries but with Austria, more precisely Vienna. As a relic of former times under the Austro-Hungarian empire, you can find them in (almost) every fast-food place on Romanian soil, in most creative ways whether next to cabbage salad or in a bread with cartofi prajiti, mayonnaise and ketchup (aha, so here it is ok to add it to the fries, hmm)      
  
Zacuscă: As every people, also the Romanians need something which is suitable to eat when you don't have time to prepare a menu with three courses. So, just take it easy and enjoy your bread with zacuscă, a nice spread made of vegetables like eggplants, onions, tomato paste etc. And also, it is a proof for the importance of hospitality in the Romanian culture (of cuisine). There is almost no chance of leaving a house where you've been invited without a jar full of home-made zacuscă as a present. But be careful with zacuscă from the supermarkets, there is a more than huge discrepancy between these and the self-made ones. Trust your feeling (and your purse) in this case!

Well, this list could probably contain thousands of other entries, regarding that even within Romania the cuisine really differs but let's leave it like this for the moment, take your time to digest the new gained information and do not hesitate to try yourself soon! Great food (and much more than this) is waiting for you.. haide!