Gastronomy in Romania

Romanian cuisine is greatly influenced by Balkan cooking, as well as dishes from neighboring countries like Germany, Hungary and Serbia. The Turks brought meatballs, the Greeks there is musaca, from the Bulgarians a wide selection of vegetable dishes, and the Austrians brought in the şniţel. One of the most common dishes is the mămăligăa, a cornmeal mush and known as the poor man’s dish. Pork is widely used in Romanian cuisine; beef, lamb and fish dishes are also popular. For more than 2 millennia, wine has been the favorite drink among the Romanians. The country is the 9th biggest producer of wine in the world.

Other Romanian dishes include caltaboşi (rice pudding with chitterlings), dovlecei umpluti (stuffed squash), drob (lamb tripe cooked with green herbs like bunch onion, dock), varză călită (steam cabbage with pork ribs or sausage or duck), chiftele (large meatballs covered with breadcrumbs or flour crust), and tobă (sausage stuffed with pork jelly and skin). Salads are also part of a typical Romanian dish. Popular salads are murături (pickled cucumbers, green tomatoes, cauliflower), salată de boeuf (boiled and minced vegetables, meat), ardei copti (roasted peppers), salată de macaroane (pasta salad), and salată de cartofi (potato salad).

Famous desserts in the country include baklava, cozonac (pound cake), papanaşi, chec (coffee cake), mucenici (8-shaped sweet cookies), şarlotă (custard made of gelatin, fruits, lady fingers and whipped cream), gogoşi (doughnuts), covrigi (pretzels), and halva.