Over the course of many centuries Romania has been colonised and influenced by the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires and, ultimately, Russia. This has had an impact on our history and culture, and the spirit of Romanian cookery really does encompass Europe’s varied cuisines.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly which passing or settled tribe had the most influence on Romania’s staple foods. The Dacian tribes are very likely to have had contact and cultural exchanges with the Celts. Known for being pig herders, the Celts worshipped the spirit of the oak tree and loved chestnuts. Pigs and chestnuts are very much present in Romanian food even today, and the oak has played a role in events throughout our history.
Wheat, grape vines and honey could have been introduced by the Greeks, who had settlements along the Black Sea shores long before the Roman conquest. The grapevine is believed to have originated in the Southern Caucasus, somewhere between Armenia, Turkey and Iran. This is close to the Black Sea, and many foods could have taken the direct route to Tomis (today’s Constanţa, Romania’s port-city) to reach Europe by sea. It is believed that one time all of the vineyards were destroyed in order to keep the Dacian warriors sober.
The wealth and vast territories of the Dacian tribes caught the eye of the ever-expanding Roman Empire, and after a series of unsuccessful attempts to conquer it, they made this territory a colony in 105 BC. This meant that people and foodstuffs were coming to Romania from all over the Roman Empire, and with them came pulsum – a soup of boiled grains which is an ancestor of polenta. The Romans also facilitated the introduction of fruit trees such as apricot, peach and pear; walnut trees; peas and broad beans; and pearl barley and millet, from which the Romanian word for polenta, mămăligă, originates from; and herbs, notably dill, parsley and lovage.
Later, the invasion of the Mongol Empire can be credited with the introduction of butter-making and sauerkraut, although preserving in brine is thought to be Chinese invention.
Garlic was brought from Central Asia and was particularly loved throughout the Byzantine empire.
When the Ottomans introduced maize and cornmeal, the new grain was initially not taxed by the local rulers, hence they became very popular in peasant cookery (not to mention that you get a better yield from a crop of maize than one of wheat). They also brought potatoes, tomatoes, watermelons, aubergines and vanilla together with new ways of cooking.
Romanians learnt the skills of pastry-making and the layering of fine pastry sheets, as well as how to roll it, stuff it and soak it in sugar syrup. Dolmas (see here) and sarmale became popular, made using not only the staple fermented cabbage leaves but also any other leaves that were growing on the land, including vine and linden tree leaves. Rice started to be used in different dishes, and to feed a growing Ottoman Empire, rice paddies were cultivated along the Danube river in southern Romania.
The Ottomans made money by selling princely titles in Wallachia and Moldova to rich Greek families established in Phanar, one of the historic quarters of Istanbul. Romanian cuisine became directly influenced by how much the Phanariots enjoyed eating, and they introduced French methods of cookery, already held in high regard throughout the rest of Europe.
Slavic influences brought our beloved borş to Romanian cuisine, while Transylvania, which sits in the central, north and west of the country, was heavily influenced by Austria and Hungary – potatoes, dumplings, strudel and tocană (rich stews) all became popular.
This amalgamation of ingredients and cooking techniques was based not only on political governance and occupation, but also trade and migration. Jewish cuisine had a role to play, as it had across all of Central Europe during the mass migration of Jewish peope, and may be the origin of our beloved chicken soup with dumplings or pastramă.
Romany communities, known as ţigani, came with their own set of crafts, and when they first arrived from northwest India they were kept as slaves by the ruling classes and monks. It is believed that the tradition for cooking meat on open fires was a custom borrowed from them, but the Ottoman soldiers were known for the same thing too. Oppressed by society wherever they went, Romany people were forced to give up their nomadic culture and settle by the communist regime. Traditional crafts were lost when the Romany people had to find jobs in agriculture and settle on the outskirts of cities and towns – this didn’t help their integration into Romanian society. After the fall of communism when they were once again permitted to move from town to town, they were the first to look for a better life abroad.
The old town of Bucharest is a charming amalgamation of architectural styles. The old cobblestone streets once belonged to different trade guilds with shops at the ground floor and accommodation above. Lipscani street was for those who came from Leipzig with merchandise from Western Europe. Another street was dedicated to saddle makers, one to glass makers, and others to goldsmiths and fur traders.
Later on, the grand boulevards of the 19th century, our French-inspired ‘Arc de Triomphe’, the decorative houses and imposing official buildings in the style of Napoleon the Third’s Paris brought Bucharest the endearing nickname of ‘Little Paris’. It was a cosmopolitan city buzzing with merchants, automobiles, horse-pulled carts, gypsies selling flowers, bourgeoisie out for a walk, politicians, artists and writers. Two different centuries and two different cultures were happily living side by side and enjoying a peak time after WWI, a time which sadly didn’t last when things took a turn for the worst.
Communism had a huge impact on Romanian history and culture. The making of artisan products such as cheese, charcuterie and wine was discouraged, to say the least, and these skills almost vanished. Communism wiped out communities. Whole villages were demolished in order to make room for blocks of apartments, in an attempt to quickly modernise a population that simply wasn’t ready. The traditional peasant way of living suddenly moved to an ‘apartment environment’ where people kept doing what they knew best, even growing vegetables and rearing chickens on their balconies.
The regime was on a mission to homogenise traditions. Inevitably cookery, and especially regional cookery, suffered, and we ended up with one cookery book that everybody had to follow even if the basic ingredients were rationed or completely unavailable. Luckily (if you can call it that) there was a black market for recipes passed down by word of mouth or written down on napkins or on loose pieces of paper. My mum kept them in an old chocolate box and we enjoyed making them whenever we could.