What do people eat in Romania?
Romanians eat a light breakfast and a big lunch between 12:00 and 14:00 that starts with ciorbă, a sour soup, then a main such as sarmale with mămăligă. Dinner, around 19:00 to 20:00, is lighter. Bread comes with every course.
Typical dishes and their calories
Breakfast
Breakfast is light, around 7:00 to 8:00: eggs, bread with ham and cheese, or bread with butter and jam, and a strong coffee with a splash of milk. On the way to work many people grab a covrig, a ring of bread covered in sesame seeds, about 230 kcal.
Lunch
Lunch is traditionally the big meal. It opens with ciorbă, a soup soured with fermented bran, lemon or vinegar, served with sour cream and a hot pepper on the side. Ciorbă de burtă, tripe soup with sour cream and egg yolk, is about 300 kcal a bowl. The main might be sarmale, cabbage rolls of minced meat and rice, at about 350 kcal for three, with mămăligă, a firm cornmeal porridge.
Dinner
Dinner comes around 19:00 to 20:00 and is lighter than a traditional lunch: leftovers, a stew, or mămăligă with cheese and smântână, sour cream. A plate of plain mămăligă is about 180 kcal before the toppings. Tochitură, a pork stew served with mămăligă and a fried egg, is the hearty version.
Starters
A meal often opens with a small glass of țuică, plum brandy, and bread. Spreads come first: salată de vinete, smoky roasted aubergine mixed with onion and oil or mayonnaise, and zacuscă, a roasted aubergine and pepper spread kept in jars. Both are eaten on fresh bread with a little cheese.
Desserts
Papanași are the dessert everyone orders: fried doughnuts of sweet cheese, topped with sour cream and blueberry or cherry jam. A plate of two is about 550 kcal. Cozonac, a sweet bread swirled with walnuts, poppy seeds or Turkish delight, is baked for Christmas, about 260 kcal a slice. Plăcintă, a filled pastry, is the everyday sweet.
Drinks
Coffee starts the day. Beer goes with mici and grilled meat, and Romania is one of the big wine producers of Europe, with its own grapes such as Fetească Neagră. Țuică, plum brandy, is the house spirit, and a 40 ml glass is about 99 kcal. Palincă, another fruit brandy, is also poured before dinner.
Street food
Mici are the street food: small grilled rolls of minced beef, lamb and pork heavy with garlic, eaten with bread at beer gardens and markets. Three are about 400 kcal. Covrigi, bread rings with sesame, are the snack eaten on the go. In the mountains, bulz, a ball of mămăligă baked around melted cheese, is topped with sour cream.
Normal there, odd elsewhere
Soup is sour on purpose, and a raw hot pepper sits next to the bowl. Bread comes with every course. A host will offer more food again and again, and saying no once is part of the ritual. During Orthodox fasts, menus fill with dishes made without meat or dairy, called de post.