Time To Bite Into Romania’s Food!
My blogging friend Carol has a terrific series called “A – Z Of World Cuisine”, and I love them – she shares so much great insight and information about the food and culture of a country…here’s how she describes the cuisine of the Eastern European country of Romania:
“Lunch is the main meal of the day… It almost always starts with a sour soup called ciorbă, this sour, fatty and heavily garlicked beef tripe soup is enjoyed throughout the country…followed by a hearty meat-and-starch main course like stuffed cabbage rolls (sarmale) or pork stew (tochitură) served with polenta (mămăligă), a fried egg, and salty sheeps cheese…in true Romanian style a generous dollop of high-fat sour cream is added to almost any soup or main dish.”
As always with Carol’s posts, I find one that I simply just have to make and this time, it’s this Romanian favorite:
Romania’s National Dish: Sarmale!
Here how Carol describes this unique dish:
“Romania’s undisputed national dish is Sarmale, which consists of savory cabbage rolls stuffed with a rich mixture of minced pork (or a pork-beef blend), rice, onions, and herbs. The rolls are traditionally simmered slowly in a clay pot and are almost always served alongside warm mămăligă (yellow cornmeal polenta) and a dollop of sour cream…”
I will be making this for my wife soon and will share how it turns out, but don’t wait for me!
See Carol’s entire story, filled with great recipes, history and more, by clicking on her website here:
Romania is just east of Hungary, and Carol has profiled that country’s food as well – and it’s where my wife and I went a few years ago…here’s the city of Budapest:
Of course, we were eager to bite into Hungary’s cuisine while there, like this:
Chicken Schnitzel was just the tip of the iceberg – we ate everyday stapes like this, and also had a volcanic desert as well:
Onyx restaurant is one of the city’s best, and you can see our entire meal here:
We had a great time at Onyx, but it wasn’t our only food experience in Budapest – I mean, when you are in Hungary you MUST have Goulash!
Alex posted about her dish, and we went to Budapest’s Great Market Hall for Schnitzel and Spaetzle” as well! See those dishes here:
It was all part of our great adventure on the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train, which included arriving in Budapest by classic steam engine!
Check out what happened – and why I should have CLOSED OUR WINDOW!
You can see more video of the train in action, as well as more of our adventure onboard by clicking here:
Make sure to click on Carol’s terrific story of Romanian food!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Food, Food Travel, Food Writing, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel, Wacky Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
I was raised on this kind of food. Yum!!
The soup is not for me. But the rest sounds delicious