Romania has its part of traditional cuisine that you can discover at one of the many food fairs that are held throughout the country.
Mainly, same dishes are served and you get the chance to discover various flavors. Romanian cuisine has its own character although you can easily see the influence Romania’s neighbors or conquerors throughout time had on it. So, you can identify Turkish, Hungarian, German touches, main particularity being given by the used spices.
Probably, the most representative cold food would be the Romanian bacon (Romanian “slanina”) that is normally served with onions, cheese and bread. This is also the most common meal of peasants in Transylvania and definitely reminds me of childhood.
Going further, the next in line would be the warm food where the grilled minced meat rolls (Romanian“mici” or “mititei”) stand out. They are served with mustard and bread, or even with fries and pickles.
Other grilled meat is also available, mainly chicken, pork and various sausages.
Cabbage rolls (Romanian “Sarmale”) are as famous as the Mici and clearly worth a try. They are made of rice, cabbage and pork meat but the flavor is given by the spices. you can have them with sour cream and hot peppers.
For a more healthy dish, grilled fish, especially trout is quite common.
In addition, various sweets are available at food fairs: homemade chocolate, fruit pies, chocolate salami (salam de biscuiti), plum dumplings (galuste cu prune), nougat, honey cookie (tarta dulce).
When it comes to Hungarian influence, Kurtos Kalacs, could be the most famous nowadays.
Moreover, there is no food fair without the sweet corn, either grilled or boiled.
There is no food fair without homemade wine and honey.
I had the chance to take these pictures illustrating what Romanian traditional food is while having a walk in one of the Bucharest’s park, Herastrau at a traditional food fair.
