Romania is one of the Balkan countries with an interesting history and diverse nature. Romania's Black Sea coast 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. The Romanian Carpathians contain one third of the European reserves of mineral water. Balneological and thermal spas treat the widest range of diseases. The picturesque nature and mountain air help them in this. Lovers of skiing also go to the Carpathians, there are many tracks for any level of training.
The main tourist mecca of Romania is Transylvania, a mysterious and famous region of the country. Castles and fortresses among mountains covered with dense forests, cities with beautiful medieval architecture. The most popular tourist route Dracula Tour runs in Transylvania.
Any kind of tourism becomes gastronomic, because travelers need food, and with a national flavor. Romania has a lot to try!
Food in Romania
What is the first association with the word Romania? Dracula and hominy. The country's main grain crop, corn, is widely used in a wide variety of dishes. But it is mamalyga that is the hallmark of Romanian cuisine and the embodiment of its basic principles: delicious food made from simple products. Most of the other dishes are influenced by 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. It is a real pleasure to try combinations of vegetables grown under the Romanian sun.
Among dairy products, soft cheeses are interesting, you should definitely try feta cheese. For meat dishes, poultry or pork are used. Except for Transylvania, the most famous and mysterious region of Romania. There, in the spirit of Count Dracula, a ram in clay or on a spit, a roast of bear's paws, emphasizing the flavor of travels through the castles of the famous vampire, is skillfully prepared for showing to tourists.
On the coast, fish and seafood are considered the main course. The assortment is huge. The gifts of the Black Sea are traditional flounder, mullet, mackerel, as well as shrimp and mussels. The food from the bottom of the sea is expertly prepared - Romanian chefs do not hammer the leading note, despite the spices and seasonings. River fish is even tastier. The second longest European river is inhabited by sturgeons, catfish, pikes and the dream of fishermen - the beluga. Therefore, fishing tours to the Danube Delta attract amateurs from many countries. The fish is cooked in the favorite Romanian way - on a wire rack, it is used to make excellent stews with vegetables. River fish in a special brine is called Saramura, it is not for everybody's taste, but it's worth a try.
Top 10 Romanian dishes
Hominy
Hominy
There are many options. The most national dish in the base is hard or soft corn porridge. It is boiled, fried or baked. Depending on how you cook it, it can be pudding, snacks, or even bread. The main colorful action is cutting hominy in the old way. A stern thread is wound around the index fingers and the loaf is cut into even lobes with it.
Urda
Sometimes it sounds like a ghoul. Cheese made from sheep's milk is grayish in color. From the same milk, you can try kashkaval, it is yellow and looks more appetizing, but both are tasty. Like Telemea, the creamy cheese is already white in color.
Chorba
Chorba
The pride of the local cuisine. This is the collective name for soups, rather sour stews. The peculiarity is in the gas station. It is infused wheat bran. The broth can be vegetable or meat. The rest of the ingredients range from dumplings and beans to tomatoes, courgettes and spinach. Delicate chorba de burte made from beef stomach or chorba with vegetables, cheese and whey are appreciated by exotic lovers. Absolutely everyone loves the beef broth chorba 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.
Mititei
Mititei
Small cylinders, similar to small, without a shell, sausages. They are made from minced meat on a grater - a thick metal grate over charcoal made from beech, walnut and other hard woods. Mititei are always served ruddy, very juicy, with garlic and spices.
Angemakht
It would seem who you can surprise with 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 from ordinary products. Of the stews, one should also try givech (tender meat with vegetables) and chulama, where mushrooms are added to meat and vegetables.
Sarmale
Sarmale
Its composition resembles dolma: the same minced meat with rice. The leaves can be grape or pickled cabbage. The principle of cooking, in broth from ribs, makes sarmale a must-try dish. In some areas of Romania, it is considered a wedding feast.
Cholan de pork
Pork leg melting in your mouth, well fried and smoked. The traditional garnish for it is yahnya (stewed beans). The garnish seems heavy, but, in combination with the leg, it simply amazes with its great taste.
Frigurei
What we call kebabs. Meat on skewers cooked on charcoal. The most common and at the same time the most delicious is liver frigurei.
Transylvanian Apple Pie
Made from shortcrust pastry with the most delicate apple filling, to which raisins and cognac are added. The filling, honey-almond, resembles the pastries of German cuisine, from where it is borrowed, like apple strudel, another replica of Austro-German cuisine.
Kadaif
Kadaif
Romanian Turkish heritage. Cakes, the dough for which is rubbed with thin threads on a special device. The finished 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 shortbread with nuts are called so.
