From a culinary point of view, Europe is divided into several simple maps: half tomato, half potato. The Europe of wine, the Europe of beer and the Europe of distillates (from fruit or cereals). The Europe of olive oil, butter and cream. Romania produces and consumes almost all of them: we lack olive oil, usually replaced by other oils and by animal fat – in traditional gastronomy, and we don’t usually make drinks from cereals, but we distil fruit in most rural households.
It’s a kind of magic in our plates
We are historically situated at the borders of three great empires and under their influence: Ottoman, Habsburg and Tsarist; we have acquired many of their customs and foods, but time and our affinity for some particular tastes have transformed them. We also have goulash, but it’s often different, we have kebabs/cevaps but they’re different from other countries’, we smoke a lot of meat and eat a lot of sour soups and pies. So, you can find a lot of recognizable dishes, but the taste, techniques or seasoning are surprising.
We love meat, but we also have one of the most fertile soils in the region, perfect for grains and vegetables. Excessive deindustrialization helps us grow vegetables that taste like old times. We still have four seasons and benefit from seasonal produce. We have sea, rivers, plains, hills and mountains. Foraging is practiced on a large scale and our truffles and other wild mushrooms or berries end up in the world’s best restaurants.
In traditional restaurants, comfort food is in the majority. Soups, stews, cabbage rolls and plenty of grilled meat, and more and more vegetarian and vegan options as well. We love thyme, mustard, and garlic in particular, because we’re the land of vampires. You’ll find rustic food everywhere, as well as fine dining restaurants with a Romanian twist. And if you’re not the kind of person who travels for local food, you should know that we like pizza, burgers and sushi, too.
Romania is one of the world’s great wine producers and we boast plenty of local varieties or international medals for wines made from international varieties. We produce a lot of beer, including craft beers, as well as țuică/pălincă/vișinată – distillates from all kinds of fruit (especially plums) with various alcoholic volumes. In recent years, the Romanian specialty coffee industry has seen the most significant growth in the world, so between one coffee and another you pass by dozens of other specialty shops.
Details about each food or drink in separate articles.
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