Romenia

Over the years, Romania has come into contact with several different traditions that have consequently shaped the country’s cuisine – as a result, there is a diverse blend of different dishes, yet it still retains its own distinctive character. Ottoman cuisine has played an important role, as well as other neighbouring cooking styles, such as German, Serbian, Bulgarian and Hungarian. Romanians often use one term to refer to quite a few different types of dishes – for example, the category ‘ciorba’ includes a wide range of soups with a characteristic sour taste. These soups may contain meat and vegetable, tripe and calf foot, or fish, all of which are soured by lemon juice, sauerkraut juice, vinegar, or traditionally ‘bors’. Similarly ‘tuica’ (plum brandy) is a generic term for a strong alcoholic spirit in Romania, while in other countries, every flavour has a different name.