For Romanians passionate about travel, but also for foreigners eager for unique experiences and unique and Instagrammable moments, a new tourist alternative has appeared in Romania: we are talking about the objectives of the cultural tourism program Attractive Romania, launched in May.
Attractive Romania includes 12 thematic tourist routes that cross the entire country, with 275 objectives to visit, which will be signposted through specific road infrastructure until 2026 and which are currently found on the dedicated multimedia platform.
One of the 12 tourist routes is the Route of traditional Romanian gastronomy, which offers us a unique way to practice tourism in Romania, with herbs and spices with oriental flavors with Balkan, Turkish, and Hungarian tastes, where delicious dishes are served in people’s backyards, along with stories that take you to lands you’ve never stepped on before.
Why do gastronomic tourism in Romania?
A simple search on Google will send you, in Romania, to a series of tourist attractions that, over time, most Romanians have known and that attract, annually, hundreds of thousands of tourists. But Romania is more than a collection of classic tourist attractions. Romania is one of the European countries with a great diversity of cultural and culinary influences, and the multitude of delicious options makes it a dream destination for food lovers.
The amazingly tasty dishes that can be found on the Romanian Traditional Gastronomy Route have so far enjoyed whole generations of Romanians, and a great merit of the Attractive Romania cultural tourism program is, among other things, to bring to light lesser-known gastronomic objectives and to place them on a map available not only to local communities, as has happened so far, but to all Romanians and even the whole world.
The „Route of traditional Romanian gastronomy” contains 30 delicious tourist attractions, which will offer you not only an extraordinary culinary experience but also content for social networks because the dishes you will try look so good on the stove, on a plate, or in a pan, so that they seem detached from another universe, almost unknown until now.
An introduction to a culinary fairy tale world
If you choose to sit down at the table with Attractive Romania in the Danube Delta, you will be served, among many others, fish borsch. As we learn from the romania-atractiva.ro website, „served alongside a garlic sauce, fish borscht is not just a meal, but a moment of connection with the spirit of the Delta, an invitation to enjoy the beauty and simplicity of life in these lands”.
We don’t have to go too far from the Danube Delta to enjoy another tourist attraction on the Romanian Traditional Gastronomy Route: the aromas and wines of Dobrogea. The journey begins at the wineries famous for their wines, where each bottle of wine tells its story through subtle and savory notes, then we meet the Dobrogean pie or the delicious cornuclettes with „rahat”, the secret of which is the tenderness of the dough.
In Țara Călatei, sour soup with smoked pork knuckle is a local superstar. The unmistakable taste of smoked fennel blends harmoniously with the sour and very pleasant aroma of gooseberries in this traditional soup, creating, together with carrots, parsley roots, and red pepper, a symphony of flavors that delights the taste buds. Finally, it is thickened with a mixture of milk, cream, and flour and served hot with parsley leaves. And that’s not all. Calata cheese, made from sheep’s or goat’s milk, and Râșca potato, with its unmistakable taste, are just some of the specialties that turn Țara Călatei into a real paradise for food lovers.
Four „countries” in one region in northern Romania
Maramureș is one of the most beautiful regions in Romania, famous, among many others, for its wooden churches. In the Attractive Romania program, one of the 12 tourist routes is the Route of wooden churches. Few people, however, have gotten to know the traditional dishes of Chioar Land, Codru Land, Maramureș Land, and Lăpuş Land, four „countries” whose delicious dishes coexist in one region so beloved by Romanian and foreign tourists.
In Țara Chioarului, the great culinary star is the „Curly pie”, which you enjoy with a glass of „grostior”, a fat collected from freshly milked milk. Also in țara Chioarului, you will be able to enjoy stuffed kurechiu (sarmalele), zama chicken, and peas with milk.
In Țara Codrului, you will be able to taste the Codrenian pie, whose dough is made from flour, water, yeast, and a little sugar, which you knead until it becomes elastic and then let it rise. After the dough has been left to rise, spread it out, fill it with salty cheese, and fold it into fine folds, then fry it in an oiled pan. Also in Țara Codrului, you will be amazed by the polenta in layers with „jumari”, in addition to homemade scones and cakes or dishes based on pork, such as sausages and smoked ham.
In the extreme north of the country, on the border with Ukraine, you will step on the lands of Maramureşului and Lăpușului lands, where you will find corn bread, sarmales in stevia leaves, and Maramureş pies. Moreover, the „sâmatisa cake” and „picioici cake” are two delicacies from this region so loved by those who appreciate good food.
These are just a few of the 30 gastronomic destinations that can’t wait to delight you on the „Route of traditional Romanian gastronomy” from the “Attractive Romania” cultural tourism program. In addition to unique dishes in the world, you will also discover dozens of local gastronomic points where you will be able to enjoy, right in people’s yards, fresh dishes cooked the same day.
Until then, you can visit the romania-atractiva.ro website and download the „Romania Attractiva” application (from here: https://romaniaatractiva.app.link/download), where you can create your own route. The application will provide you with information about each tourist objective in Romanian, English, Hungarian, French, German, and Romanian languages, will help you make the best decisions, and will guide you in avoiding tourist traps.
