National Moldavian cuisine is called a treasure trove of unique recipes. And this is not surprising. After all, Moldova itself is fabulously rich in all kinds of products and methods of preparing them. This has been the case since ancient times, as she was in the right place at the right time. Simply put, the country was on the busy route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, which Byzantine and Greek merchants used to transport overseas goods. Needless to say, they subsequently “shared” with the Moldovans not only these, but also small culinary tricks that local housewives immediately used in everyday life.

Story

As mentioned earlier, true Moldavian cuisine has its origins in ancient times. True, it was influenced not only by territorial features, but also by individual stages of the development of other peoples.

Judge for yourself: in the X – XIII centuries. Moldova was part of the Old Russian state from 1359 to 1538. - remained independent, then was under Turkish rule for almost 300 years, and in the 18th century. became part of the Russian Empire and remained so for almost a hundred years until the unification with Wallachia and the formation of “Romania”.

All this involuntarily affected the culinary traditions of the Moldovans, although they themselves did not lose touch with Hellenic, Byzantine culture and Greek customs. The best confirmation of this is the Greek dishes that have taken root in Moldavian cuisine, for example, placintas and vertutas. And, of course, culinary customs and techniques that are characteristic of Southern European and Mediterranean cuisines.

First of all, there is a special affection for butter, puff pastry and stretch pastry. This also includes the frequent use of vegetable oils, olive and sunflower, the use of dry grape wine in the process of preparing meat and vegetable dishes, or the creation of spicy and piquant sauces for them.

The Turkish influence is evidenced by the combined processing of products, the frequent use of lamb and, of course, dishes common to both peoples (givech, chorba). By the way, the Slavs also left their mark on Moldavian cuisine by sharing recipes for pickling and fermenting vegetables, as well as making cabbage pies and Easter cakes.

They say that thanks to all this, Moldovan cuisine subsequently became integral, unique and even international. The way she is known and loved throughout the world today.

Character traits

Features of Moldavian cuisine are:

  • widespread use of vegetables. Here they are stewed, pickled, salted, fermented and simply eaten raw. Sweet peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, and various types of beans remain held in high esteem for many years;
  • richness of meat dishes - it so happened historically that Moldovans equally love pork, lamb, beef, and poultry. Moreover, most often they are cooked over an open fire using a grater - an iron grate placed over hot coals, or in portioned pots. They are served respectively with hot or cold sauces based on dry wine or tomato juice with vegetables;
  • active use of spices and herbs - most often garlic, tarragon, pepper, thyme and cloves;
  • the originality of the soups - they all have a characteristic sour taste and a huge amount of vegetables and herbs. The most popular soups remain chorba and zama;
  • a variety of salads - they are prepared here from vegetables and fruits, fish and meat, and, of course, herbs and are served cold immediately after dressing. Moldovans know plenty of recipes for such dishes, as they make them in a new way every time, simply modifying the set of ingredients;
  • abundance of fish – fish dishes are very popular in Moldova. Here they are baked, boiled, fried, including deep-fried, and served with a lot of vegetables;
  • sincere love for corn - porridges, soups and main courses are prepared from it, including the famous mamalyga. It is also called local bread, as it is a dish made from thickly brewed corn flour, which is then cut into portions. Many people mistakenly believe that it has been here since ancient times. In fact, corn was introduced to this region in the 17th century. At first it was considered exclusively the food of the poor, and only later it was “made” into a national dish;
  • abundance of dairy products, however, Moldovans love feta cheese most of all.

But the most interesting thing is not so much the dishes themselves as their presentation. In this country they know a lot about design and use it skillfully.

Basic cooking methods:

In Moldova you can and should try absolutely everything! But due attention must be paid to its pride - national dishes. And there are plenty of them here!

The same mamalyga. It is said that its ancestor is Italian polenta.

Vertuta and placinta are pies made from stretched dough with different fillings (cottage cheese, vegetables, fruits, eggs and even nuts). Their main difference is their shape. Vertuta is a roll, while placinta is a flat pie.

Chorba is a favorite first course, which is a soup with vegetables and herbs on bread kvass.

Mititei – grilled sausages.

Malai is a corn pie.

Syrbushka is a vegetable soup made with curd whey and corn flour.

Zama is another version of soup made with bread kvass. It differs from chorba in the large number of vegetables.

Makareshti – dried peppers.

Food in which Germans and Russians, Turks and Romanians, Ukrainians and Greeks will find something familiar - all this is about the Moldovan national cuisine. The history of the country has formed an international system of bright and satisfying dishes, colorful and aromatic. While studying the cuisines of the world, it would be simply a crime to bypass the Moldavian one. It’s worth returning to it every time you want something truly traditional, no matter where you live.

Differences in the national cuisine of Moldova

Moldavian national cuisine is very similar to the cuisines of neighboring countries, but at the same time it is different from all others. She has individual traits, which we will learn about today. Like the culture of other states, Moldavian culture was formed under the influence of history. It was its unexpected twists that ensured the modern habits and taste preferences of Moldovans. Before the formation of the Principality of Moldova in the 14th century, the lands of modern Moldova were inhabited by several ethnic groups. The emergence of national cuisine is attributed to the period of the principality, and the gastronomic preferences of the first settlers are not taken into account. With independence, the principality began to trade with neighboring countries, which did not bring much novelty to the cuisine.

The initial basis for national cuisine were those products that grew or were grown in a given territory. Although this is also a lot: the geographical location of the country is simply created for agriculture. The local climate allows you to successfully grow both root vegetables and herbs, as well as grains and fruits. Back in the Middle Ages, Moldavian housewives learned to combine vegetables in a variety of combinations, because there were a lot of these ingredients here. And today you will not learn anywhere to combine vegetables so perfectly as in Moldova.

The fertile lands attracted the attention of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. And the Turks had a rule to conquer whatever they liked. So Moldova fell under the rule of the Ottomans for 300 long years. During this period, the country's culture adopted some of the characteristics of its enslavers, including its cuisine. So the Moldovans learned from them the combined processing of dishes and the use of vegetable oils. They began to use it more and more often, which was previously preferred to poultry. And today you can find dishes that are the same for both cuisines, for example chorba or givech.

The close relationship with the Slavic peoples also left its mark on this culture. The greatest contribution of the ancient Russian peoples to Moldavian cuisine is considered to be the tradition of pickles and marinades. This technique of procuring food for future use was here even without the influence of the Russians and Ukrainians, but the latter made their own adjustments. For example, using a large amount of greens in salting, cabbage sourdough technique, etc. Thanks to the Turks, the Moldovans became more familiar with spices, and they knew how to mix different components themselves. Thus, various pickles and marinades in Moldavian cuisine acquired their own individual character.

Popular products and dishes

Here they equally often use vegetables, dairy products and meat; they love fish and sweets. In the cuisine of Moldova it is impossible to single out one traditional product; everything is used here. Vegetables can most often be found in dishes; they are used to prepare stews, stuffed, and fermented for the winter. Among sweet peppers, they prefer the native Gogoshar - a special resistant variety, similar to the Bulgarian one. In general, Moldovans really like stuffing vegetables, unlike the common stuffed peppers; here you can also try eggplant stuffed with minced meat. Moreover, such dishes are found more often in home kitchens than in restaurants.

Among the spices in Moldova, they prefer greens and paprika. Classic seasonings like these allow you to create something delicious at the same time. But a no frills dish. It is very popular; sauces are prepared on its basis and added to main courses for taste and aroma. The most popular garlic-based sauces are mujdey and skordola. The latter is especially good, prepared with nuts and herbs.

All types of meat are used in Moldova; a distinctive feature of the cuisine is a large number of lamb dishes. Unlike neighboring peoples, in Moldova they prefer young meat: lambs. This product has a delicate, slightly expressed aroma and taste.

A lot of national dishes are prepared from meat, such as:

  1. Mititei - similar in appearance to small sausages, but prepared without lamb casing or with spices. They are fried over an open fire using charcoal, which gives the dish a subtle smoky flavor.
  2. Moussaka is a casserole with meat and cow, the dish was adopted from the Greeks, where it is called the same.
  3. Kostitsa is pork roasted over a fire, before cooking it is marinated in red wine and pepper. It is prepared in the traditional way on a grater (a special coarse grill).
  4. Kyrnetsei are sausages very similar to mititei, but they are made from lean pork meat with spices.
  5. Jelly is an ordinary jellied meat, with the obligatory addition of spices and garlic.
  6. Pastrama is a dish common in Turkic cuisine, essentially an ordinary basturma.

Most meat dishes are eaten with mujdey and skordolja sauces. Beans and vegetable stews are also popular as side dishes here. Paprikash is the most popular of them, prepared with meat, pepper, onions and other vegetables. The best combination of vegetables is still obtained in the Moldavian manja. This is a paste made from eggplant or zucchini; vegetables are usually fried over a fire before cooking so that the dish gets that smoky flavor. Manja is also considered the most popular cold appetizer in Moldova; it is eaten fresh or prepared for the winter.

As for cold appetizers, you should definitely try the facaluite beans. This dish is borrowed from Jewish cuisine and is similar to hummus, but is made with beans. You can eat it as a substitute for mashed potatoes or spread it on as a snack. Also among the cold dishes, dried gogoshars (peppers) - makareshti, sweetish with a woody caramel aroma, deserve special attention. However, you can try such a simple and tasty dish almost only in Moldova.

The first courses of Moldovan national cuisine are a real kaleidoscope of ingredients. Soups and borscht turn out colorful and rich. They prepare both cold options for refreshment in the summer, and hot ones to warm up in the winter. The most popular of them:

  1. Chorba is a hot soup based on bread kvass with a vegetable mix, resulting in a thick, rich dish with sourness.
  2. Zama is also a kvass soup, but it is customary to cook it based on a bran drink; it also includes egg noodles and fewer vegetables, a lot of greens. Can be with fish or meat.
  3. Syrbushka is a liquid hot soup made from whey and semolina or corn grits. As a rule, nothing else is put into the soup, except maybe greens.
  4. Buryakitse - soup with dumplings and tomatoes.
  5. Shurpa is a vegetable soup made from lamb or veal. A distinctive feature is the characteristic smell of meat in the dish.

Of course, in addition to unusual Moldavian dishes, you can also find the usual Ukrainian borscht, light broth or rassolnik. True, they mostly eat first courses with traditional sauces, most often muzhdey.

A separate branch in the national cuisine is occupied by various flour products. Vertutas made from stretched dough are very popular; they are often replaced with something easier to prepare -. The presence of baked goods in the house is considered an indicator of wealth, and at the same time a test of the hostess. The filling is an egg with herbs and meat. Bryndza is especially popular, and not only as a filling. This pickled cheese is also used here as a snack for sweets, as an addition to salads, and as a substitute for hard cheeses. Cheese cheese from sheep, cow or goat milk is produced on an industrial scale and simply at home.

When it comes to baked goods, we can’t help but mention placindas. They can be in the form of whole baked pies or resemble a large round pie. Traditionally, they were still fried in vegetable oil with feta cheese, although today the filling can be anything: cabbage, eggs, meat, pumpkin. Under the influence of Russian and Ukrainian cuisine, people here are addicted to Easter cakes, rolls and loaves. Although such delights of baking are prepared mainly only for the holidays.

On memorable days one cannot do without a sweet table. Desserts are mostly from Turkish cuisine, popular here: halva, sorbet, nut nougat, kitonoage (quince pastille), marshmallows. But there are also our own sweet “inventions”. These include peltya, which is jam or preserves made from the juice of berries and fruits. This way they get rid of small seeds and get a delicate consistency of sweetness, which is prepared for the winter. Another classic Moldavian dessert is gogosh, these are flat thin cookies made from egg dough; when baking, they are sprinkled with crushed cookies and placed in the middle.

Delicious recipes

When discussing national cuisine, one cannot help but consider individual Moldovan recipes. This way you can cook something unusual yourself, even from familiar products. Finding a recipe with photos and step-by-step preparation today is easier than ever.

Of all the flavors of this cuisine, we will choose only the most popular ones.

Hominy

Products for cooking:

  • – 1.25 l;
  • corn flour – 400 g;
  • salt to taste.

Cooking steps:

  1. Pour a measured amount of flour onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for a while to dry.
  2. Sift the dried flour through a fine sieve. At this time, put a cauldron of water on the fire.
  3. When the water boils, add salt and reduce heat. Slowly add flour, stirring the porridge constantly. Stir so that no lumps remain.
  4. The porridge sticks to the walls very easily. You need to cook it constantly stirring, with breaks for 1-2 minutes. Cook the mamalyga in this way for half an hour, then turn the heat to low and leave for another 15 minutes. The porridge should thicken well.
  5. After this, you need to moisten a wooden spoon in cold water and run it along the edges of the cauldron, this way the hominy will separate from the walls of the dish. Dump the contents onto the board and cut into pieces with thread.

They eat this dish with their hands, dipping it in melted butter and feta cheese. Oil can be replaced with fried (cracklings).

Buryakitse

To prepare you need:

  • – 800 ml;
  • water – 1 liter;
  • - 2 pcs.;
  • onions – 4 pcs.;
  • root - 1 pc.;
  • celery root – 1 pc.;
  • dumplings – 500 g.

Vegetables are cut into large pieces, onions into four parts, carrots into large circles. Pour water and tomato juice over all prepared vegetables and put on fire. When everything boils, reduce the flame and add salt, cook under the lid until the vegetables are completely softened. After the vegetables have boiled sufficiently, you can add dumplings and cook everything until they are ready. Served with mujdey or sauce.

Sauces

The mentioned mujdei and skordola sauce are present in almost every dish in Moldavian cuisine. Traditional national sauces are the best option to try the cuisine of another country. After all, they can be applied to native dishes. For muzhdeya, you just need to grind the garlic and salt into a homogeneous mass, add a couple of tablespoons of meat broth and a little vinegar. This dressing can complement dishes of fried or baked vegetables, meat, and potatoes. In Moldova it is even added to fish.

Skordola is also a garlic sauce, but tastier due to walnuts. So, grind the garlic and nuts to a paste, add soaked bread crumb and vegetable oil to it. All ingredients should turn into a homogeneous mass, which is best done with a blender, but for those who want to achieve authenticity, you can grind it in a mortar. Wine vinegar or is added to the finished sauce. The sauce tastes better if it contains more nuts.

Drinks from Moldova

Non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks also form part of any national cuisine. As for non-alcoholic drinks, Moldova is no different from neighboring countries. Homemade berries and fruits are often prepared here; uzvar, a compote made from, is very popular. They are also cooked from the same compotes or jam. The productivity of this country allows you to come up with a lot of natural homemade drinks.

Borsh is considered an unusual Moldavian drink. This is boiled homemade kvass made from wheat bran and boiling water. The ingredients are infused for several days, filtered and drunk. In appearance, it is completely different from the usual one, as it has a milky color. It is also added to chorba or beetroot borscht.

Regarding alcoholic beverages, Moldova has earned itself fame almost throughout the world. Local is an integral attribute of both the entire culture and cuisine in particular. Making wine at home is also popular here, with the red variety occupying a large share. Although you can find here mono and sherry, and rose wine, and Cahors, and dozens of other varieties. Moldovans also prepare their own version of brandy – divin. National alcoholic drinks can brighten up your acquaintance with local cuisine; the main thing is not to overdo it with either alcohol or hominy.

As we have seen, the gastronomic traditions of Moldova consist of many branches. Anyone who wants to experiment with cuisines around the world should definitely pay attention to this one. After all, the traditions of several nations come together here, and therefore there will be a whole lot of amazing discoveries.

Greetings, dear guests of the site! Thanks to its traditional dishes, it is considered one of the healthiest cuisines in the world. And this is not an exaggeration at all - the climate of Moldova is ideal for growing fruits, vegetables and grains. The variety of plant foods leaves virtually no room for meat on the table of Moldovans, Gagauzes and Bulgarians living in the territory of modern Moldova.

About what is rich in Moldavian cuisine, what dishes are the hallmark of this country, what chorba, zama and vertuta are, and much more equally interesting. By the way, I haven’t written anything on the site for a very long time - so maybe you can guess why this particular article was published?

There is an opinion that the cuisine of Moldova does not exist at all. This is, of course, not true. It may not be so bright as to shine in restaurants, but nevertheless it exists, and it has its own characteristics that are simply impossible not to notice (I will talk about them later).

Of course, there was some borrowing from Turkish, Greek, Russian, Balkan and Romanian cuisines. It is quite normal for neighboring cultures to influence each other, this always happens. However, it is worth noting that not a single recipe was copied completely without changes. Moldovan chefs and culinary specialists put their own twist into each dish; this is creativity that brings together all parts of the world on one dining table.

What dish is the hallmark of Moldova?

Let's start with the most important dish of this country - mamalyga! It is prepared from corn, more precisely from corn flour. By the way, corn itself appeared in the Principality of Moldova relatively recently - about 300 years ago, and a dish made from it has already acquired a national character. Mamalyga is a very ancient dish, and was originally prepared from millet. It is believed that the ancestor of hominy is Italian polenta.

This simple and at the same time very healthy dish has always been attributed to the food of the poor, and once upon a time in poor Moldavian families, hominy was a substitute for bread. It can be served as a separate dish, but usually something is added for taste: it can be sour cream, grated cheese, butter, milk, garlic, cheese, cracklings or mushrooms. The most interesting thing is that it is not customary to cut hominy with a knife; it is separated with a thread or broken by hand (I don’t know why with a thread: would it be easier to use a sharp knife? - but it just so happens, let’s not betray ancient traditions). Next, a piece of mamalyga is crushed in your hands and dipped in sour cream or grated cheese.

This, of course, is a classic version of cooking mamaliga. I was once treated to lazy hominy, i.e. pieces of mamalyga fried in butter mixed with feta cheese, and sour cream as a sauce - I really liked it. Other tasty modifications are also prepared from it: Sarmale - cabbage rolls or cabbage rolls with hominy; Urs – feta cheese is baked in hominy balls.

I must say that white bread takes pride of place among them: all my attempts to find pure rye bread were unsuccessful (see the article where I talk about the healthiest flour, guess which one?). Therefore, they know a considerable number of recipes for pies, the most famous of which are: vertuta and placinta (placinda) (we visited a restaurant named after one of them: “La Placinte”, located in Chisinau).

Both placinda and vertuta - both are prepared from stretched dough with a variety of fillings: cottage cheese, feta cheese, nuts, fruits, potatoes, onions and eggs. Their main difference is in shape: vertuta is a roll rolled in a spiral, and placinda is a flat pie. We tried cherry twirls - I was amazed at how much filling they had! It’s immediately obvious what the country has a surplus of.

The well-known kalachi, Easter cakes and apple pie are also baked there. Very often they use puff and butter dough for baking sweets, gingerbread with honey made from corn flour, cookies with a layer of marmalade called semilune, and gogosh shortbread cookies. By the way, our well-known cabbage pies were called there - verzere.

What sweets are typical for this cuisine?

The peculiarity of the sweets is the use of mainly nuts, fruits and berries, which is very similar to typical oriental sweets. For example, quince and apple pastilles, jelly from fruit and berry juices, nut nougat, fruit marshmallows, soufflé, pastille, marmalade. Another characteristic feature of Moldovan sweets is the use of thick grape juice, a by-product of wine production - must. Fruits and vegetables are cooked in it.

The result of the evolution of Moldavian cooking is the “Cap Guguta” cake. This cake has the shape of a pyramid, assembled from rolls with cherry filling, decorated with cream and meringue.

As I already said, the climate of this sunny country allows you to grow a whole variety of vegetables: eggplants, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, beets and others. They are fried, steamed, stewed, baked whole, chopped - made into adjika, stuffed. You can see vegetables and legumes on Moldovan tables all year round in the form of salads, pickles, side dishes, first and second courses. In the summer, people prepare pickles for the winter, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, etc. Look how much you can find in their basement at home - as I was told, this is still not enough.

The most popular vegetables here are: bell peppers, sweet peppers with a spicy taste, which has its own name - gogoshar, and, of course, tomatoes, onions, pumpkin, zucchini and eggplants. By the way, many of you probably like boiled corn. It has its own name there - popushoy. As a rule, popusha is served with salt, sometimes butter or spicy sauce is added to it. Legumes are also very popular here - various purees are prepared from them: with onions, garlic and vegetable oil. The most common: beans - white and green, chickpeas, lentils.

What is the secret of the taste of Moldavian vegetable dishes?

A special place on the table of these peoples is occupied by feta cheese - pickled cheese made from sheep's milk and sour cream. These dairy products are added to meat, fish, vegetable and flour dishes to add salty and other flavors, i.e. they act as if they were spices and at the same time make the dish more satisfying and nutritious.

In the same way, various hot sauces are widely used. For example, Moldavian skordola is a sauce made from walnuts with garlic, and mujdey is a sauce made from garlic, salt and meat or vegetable broth. The following spices are used in abundance in Moldova: red, black and allspice, thyme, tarragon, leeks, garlic, celery, parsley, dill, tarragon, coriander, cloves, bay leaf, nutmeg, cinnamon.

How are first courses prepared?

The soups they prepare represent a mixture of Russian, Caucasian and Mediterranean traditions. The most famous and beloved national soups: zama - soup made from potatoes, onions, raw eggs and poultry; chorba - soup cooked with fresh, unfried vegetables in meat broth and seasoned with fresh herbs and a sour drink, which I will talk about below; chorba is served with sour cream. There are also simple soups - for example, sirbushka - soup with vegetables and corn flour.

The national Moldovan drink, which is added to soups and other liquid dishes to add a sour taste, is sour bran kvass. This drink is very popular among the people.

What can you say about meat?

There are no prohibitions on any types of meat here. In villages and villages, many people keep geese, ducks and chickens, since running such a farm is easier than keeping livestock. However, sheep, goats, lambs and even cattle are also present. The meat of lambs, calves and young chickens, geese and ducks is especially valued.

Meat is the main ingredient in traditional ancient dishes of this region, and in modern cuisine it is more often used as an additional optional component of dishes. One of the ancient meat dishes is, for example, kostitsa - pork marinated in wine, baked over a fire; kiftelutse – fried beef meatballs; resol - rooster jelly; mushka – smoked pork ham; whole cooked chickens and geese. Very often, meat is fried over an open fire: on a spit or on a grill.

A meat dish in which meat is a minor component is givech - it is something like a vegetable stew that can be prepared with or without meat. Vegetables are stewed and baked in giveche: eggplants, peppers, onions, garlic, mokrov with the addition of tomato juice or tomato paste with pieces of lamb. Moldavian moussaka is a vegetable dish in which less than half the volume may be minced lamb, or may be completely absent.

A characteristic feature of cooking fatty meat and fish is the use of an acidic component: lemon juice, tomato juice, fruit and wine. The sour taste stimulates the liver and pancreas, which in turn facilitates digestion and absorption of heavy foods.

Various delicacies are prepared from meat by-products in Moldova. For example, drob is lamb liver baked in a cauldron. Mititei and kyrnetsei - fried pork and beef sausages. Mititei are small fried beef sausages without casing, somewhat reminiscent of cutlets, but different in taste. And kyrnetsei are pork sausages in a casing.

Recently, a meat dish has become popular: Tiraspol-style cucumbers. They are fried meatloaves with lard, garlic and spices. Sometimes cucumbers and cheese are added to them.

What is the most popular drink in Moldova?

You can guess it yourself. The most favorite national drink is, of course, red wine! Scientists claim that Moldovan winemaking traditions are among the most ancient in the world. This low-alcohol drink was known here 5,000 years ago. Many villages have managed to preserve the rarest grape varieties that are not found anywhere else on the planet. A large selection of wines allows you to choose your own drink for each dish. So, for example, dry white and red wines go with meat and poultry, blended wines go with hominy, Cahors wine goes with sweet pastries and pies, rose wines go with vegetables.

To confirm the wine glory of Moldova, I will cite the following fact: the wine galleries in the Moldovan village of Small Milesti in 2005 were included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest in the world! Their cellars, which stretch over 200 km, contain more than 1.5 million bottles of wine.

What other drinks do Moldovans drink?

The variety of fruits and berries has made drinks such as compotes, jelly, juices much more popular than hot teas and coffee. In the summer, many different compotes are prepared: apricot, peach, strawberry, apple, pear and others. In my opinion, this is the best alternative to those juices that are sold in stores.

Have you already guessed why this article was born?

In the article I have already spoken a couple of times about my festivities in Moldova. This summer, during my vacation, I went there to visit my relatives. This was my first visit to sunny Moldova. I was in Gagauzia - the region of Moldova where the Gagauz people live - the nationality closest to the Turkic linguistic group. By the way, Moldavian and Gagauz languages ​​are completely different. And in general these are two different nationalities. As an example, a flat pie, which the Moldovans call placinda, is called kyirma by the Gagauz. There are other linguistic differences for the same things, but this is a topic for a completely different article.

In conclusion, I want to show you a photo of the land in the field: the climate of this country is quite dry.

That's all for me. Thank you all for your attention!

We kindly ask you to share this information on your social network using the buttons below. This will improve the site's performance. And also don’t forget to leave a comment, because you will receive a gift for it!

See you on the pages of the site. Now you know what you are rich in Moldovan cuisine!

If the article answered your question, thank the author and share the information online

Moldavian cuisine in the modern world is in the position of Cinderella. She is simple and modest, rarely leaves the house, she does not have any gloss or exoticism to shine in restaurants. Some even believe that it does not exist at all. Nevertheless, Moldavian cuisine is wonderful: it is bright, original, rich in flavors and aromas. As for its usefulness, many traditional Moldovan dishes are the standard of healthy nutrition.

There is an opinion that since Moldova was not independent for most of its history, it is impossible to talk about independent Moldavian cuisine, and all dishes common in the territory of modern Moldova are Romanian or borrowed from Turkish, Russian, Greek, Balkan and other cuisines. This point of view is easy to refute: Romania was artificially created in the 19th century from parts of Moldova, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. The cuisine that spread there accordingly began to be called Romanian, although in fact most Romanian dishes have ancient Moldavian roots.

A large number of borrowings from neighbors is also not an argument against Moldavian cuisine, because there are borrowings even in the closed Japanese cuisine, and Moldova, with its mild climate and fertile lands, has always been a tasty morsel for numerous conquerors, it was part of the Old Russian state, Turkey, and later - Russian Empire and USSR. Moreover, being located at the crossroads of ancient trade routes between north and south and between east and west, it was simply impossible for Moldova to avoid a mixture of culinary traditions. Many processing methods and principles of combining products in Moldova are the same as in the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine; the influence of Jewish, German, Mediterranean and Eastern traditions is strong here. However, not a single recipe was borrowed completely, without changes. Moldavian chefs, cooks and housewives have always had their own view of cooking and did not copy, but created, combining all parts of the world on their dining table.

A striking example is corn. This South American cereal appeared in the Principality of Moldova relatively recently (about 300 years ago), but a dish made from it - hominy - is considered the hallmark of Moldavian cuisine. Corn was much better suited for hominy than millet, from which this ancient dish was originally prepared. It is believed that the ancestor of hominy is Italian polenta, and among gourmets there is ongoing debate about which of these poor people's dishes is tastier. Be that as it may, mamalyga, this simple but very tasty and healthy dish is still loved and revered in Moldova. Corn hominy can be an independent dish, you just need to add something for taste: butter, sour cream, milk, garlic, cheese, cracklings, mushrooms. It is not customary to cut hominy with a knife; it is broken by hand or separated with thread. Then everyone crushes a piece of mamalyga in their hands and dips it in melted butter and grated cheese: it makes an excellent appetizer for dry red wine. If this is too simple, you can prepare other interesting dishes from hominy: urs (cheese cheese baked in hominy balls), sarmale (cabbage rolls or cabbage rolls with hominy) or simply fry pieces of hominy in butter.

Mamalyga cannot be called a substitute for bread, as it once was in poor Moldovan families. Today, white wheat bread occupies a special place on the Moldovan table. There are also many recipes for pies here. The most famous Moldovan pies are placinta (placinda) and vertuta. Their main difference is in shape: placinta is a flat pie, and vertuta is a roll rolled into a spiral. They are made from unsweetened stretch dough with a variety of fillings: cottage cheese, feta cheese, onions, eggs, potatoes, fruits or nuts. Pies with fresh or sauerkraut - verzere - came from Russian cuisine and became popular.

Moldavian sweets are very unusual; they are closer to oriental cuisine than to European cuisine. Of course, Moldavian cuisine has the familiar kalachi, Easter cakes and apple pies, but especially interesting are Mediterranean sweets made from puff pastry and butter dough, honey cakes made from corn flour with cinnamon, gogosh wheat shortbread cookies, and semilune cookies glued together with marmalade. And there is also a mysterious black babka - either a cake or a pudding, which is baked in the oven for 4 hours.

In addition to sweet pastries, Moldavian cuisine also contains completely different sweets based on fruits, berries and nuts: kitonoage (quince and apple pastille), alvitsa (halva with walnuts), peltea (jelly made from fruit and berry juices and decoctions). They also know how to prepare typically oriental sweets: nut nougat, fruit marshmallows, marmalade, marshmallows and soufflé. Moldavian confectioners cannot do without wine to soak the finished sweets. Another local specialty: the use of must, thick grape juice, a by-product of wine production. Fruits and even vegetables are cooked in it.

The climate of Moldova is ideal for growing grapes, vegetables, fruits and grains. The abundance and variety of plant foods in Moldova is such that there is little room left on the table or in the stomach for meat. Therefore, for a long time, Moldavian cuisine was considered poor and uninteresting. Many traditional Moldavian dishes were almost unknown outside the country, although it is not difficult to replicate them if you have the ingredients. Today, when the view on nutrition has changed to the diametrically opposite one, and the main value of food instead of calories and fats has become antioxidants and fiber, Moldovan cuisine can be called one of the healthiest in the world, close in its range of products to the cuisines of the Mediterranean.

There is a special approach to vegetables in Moldova: they are baked whole, chopped and fried, pureed, stuffed and stewed, and pickled and salted for the winter. Simple boiled or baked corn on the cob, and it is considered an independent dish, has its own name - popushy - and is served with salt and butter or a special spicy sauce. The most favorite vegetables in Moldova are sweet peppers, gogoshar (a type of sweet pepper with a spicy taste), tomatoes, onions, eggplants, zucchini, and pumpkin. Legumes are very popular here: white and green beans, lentils, chickpeas. They are usually pureed with onions, garlic and vegetable oils. Vegetables and legumes are used in Moldova almost all year round in the form of salty snacks, salads, side dishes, main courses, soups and meat dishes.

The secret of the taste of Moldavian vegetable dishes lies in the extensive use of hot sauces, rich sour cream and feta cheese - a pickled cheese made from sheep's milk. Pickled cheeses and other fermented milk products are found in the cuisines of almost all nations, but in Moldova sour cream and feta cheese occupy a special place. They add satiety and nutrition and act as spices to create salty and sour flavors in meat, fish, vegetable and flour dishes. But this does not mean that spices are tight in Moldova. Here, aromatic herbs are used in abundance: onions, leeks, garlic, tarragon, thyme, lovage, dill, celery, parsley and classic spices: black, red and allspice, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, bay leaf, cinnamon. Simple sauces came to Moldova from the cuisines of the Mediterranean, but they changed so much that you can no longer recognize the classic pesto in the Moldavian scordola, or aioli in the mujdei.

Meat, poultry and fish are not given much attention in Moldova, but there are no bans on pork or any other meat here either. In Moldavian cuisine, tender meat of lambs, calves, and young chickens is valued. Meat is often used as an additional, optional ingredient in dishes, as a spice. It’s delicious with it, but not bad without it. For example, in giveche, lamb is stewed and baked along with carrots, peppers, zucchini, eggplants, cauliflower, garlic, potatoes, onions, tomato juice and is practically lost against this bright background. In Moldavian moussaka - a tender layered “pie” made from eggplants, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, potatoes, cabbage - minced lamb makes up less than half the volume, and may be completely absent.

Meat is the main ingredient only in ancient dishes common to all peoples of the region. These are, for example, kostitsa - fire-roasted pork marinated in wine; mushka - smoked pork ham; kiftelutse - fried beef meatballs; Resol - rooster jelly, whole fried chickens and turkeys. Often, meat in Moldova is simply fried over an open fire: on a spit or on a grill (grater). At the same time, prepare eggplants, sweet peppers, bake potatoes - and a simple, hearty, beautiful dinner with a smoky aroma is ready. According to Moldavian traditions, especially fatty meat and fish are always prepared with a sour component: tomato juice, lemon, quince, apples, apricots, wine. This is done not only for taste, but also for better absorption of animal fats, which is confirmed by modern science.

Like any truly folk cuisine, Moldavian cuisine makes extensive use of offal. The most famous offal dishes are lamb liver baked in a stuffing pan (drob), and fried beef and pork sausages (mititei and kyrnetsi).

Moldavian soups are very interesting - a mixture of ancient Russian, Mediterranean and Caucasian traditions. For example, chorba is a sour soup in meat broth, cooked from young, unroasted vegetables and seasoned with herbs, sour cream, cabbage brine or the national Moldavian bran drink, reminiscent of sour kvass. From poultry meat, onions, carrots, potatoes, lemon juice and a raw egg, beaten with sour cream, you get another sour soup - zama. And if the household only has vegetables and corn flour, you can add whey and prepare a simple soup called syrbushka.

Interestingly, hot drinks are not very popular in Moldova. The abundance of berries and fruits left tea, coffee and cocoa no chance of popularity. People traditionally drink juices, compotes, jelly, syrups, sorbets and a variety of fermented milk drinks here. The favorite drink in Moldova is, of course, red wine. Archaeologists claim that Moldavian winemaking traditions are among the oldest in the world. On the territory of modern Moldova, grape wine was known 5000 years ago. Many Moldovan villages, despite the long rule of the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the ban on wine production, have preserved ancient grape varieties that are not found anywhere else on the planet. The most famous among them are Feteasca Regale, Feteasca Alba, Rara Neagra. The climate and soils of Moldova allow the cultivation of classic French grape varieties: Pinot Gris, Aligote, Cabernet, Muscat. Divins are also made in Moldova - strong drinks using brandy technology.

The variety of wines allows you to choose your own accompaniment for each dish: light white or red wines for beef and poultry; pink for vegetables; blended reds - for hominy; Cahors or sherry - for Easter cakes and sweet pies; strong drinks - for heavy and spicy dishes. The importance and ancient traditions of winemaking in Moldova are most convincingly demonstrated by the fact that in the Moldovan village of Mileştii Mici there is the world's largest collection of wines: more than one and a half million bottles are stored in cellars 200 km long.

In the 20th century, Moldavian cuisine underwent strong metamorphoses: many ancient dishes disappeared or changed beyond recognition, but new ones appeared that had nothing in common with traditional Moldavian recipes. This is, for example, the Chisinau salad. According to some sources, it consists of cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, herbs and seasoned with sour cream or mayonnaise, while according to others, it is a pompous salad of cabbage, apples, carrots, cheese, nuts, cinnamon, citric acid and mayonnaise.

Relatively recently, by historical standards, a new meat dish appeared in Moldova: Tiraspol-style cucumbers. It's actually fried meatloaf with garlic, lard and spices. Some chefs add cucumbers and feta cheese to the rolls to match the name. It turns out to be some kind of meat similarity to sushi. Another example of New Moldavian cooking is the “Gugutse Hat” cake. This is a very complex cake in the shape of a pyramid, assembled from rolls with cherry filling and decorated with cream and meringue. Such recipes, far from tradition, mean that Moldovan cuisine is not going through its best period. But as we know from history, she is able to withstand any test and come out enriched. Even now, Moldovan cuisine is alive and continues to develop.

When I first started thinking about traveling to Moldova and told my family about it, they immediately began talking with admiration about Moldavian cuisine. For some reason I thought that it was similar to Ukrainian or Russian, but it turned out that Moldovan cuisine is distinguished by its uniqueness. As it turned out, the national cuisine of Moldova was formed under the influence of Turkish, Greek and Western European cuisines. Of course, the influence of Ukrainian and Russian cuisines also did not pass by.

I always learn more about a country through its cuisine, as in the famous saying “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Moldavian cuisine was no exception. Looking ahead, I’ll say that in the national cuisine of Moldova my top 3 dishes are hominy, pancakes with cherries and placinda with feta cheese. Nevertheless, we tried most of the Moldovan dishes and I can confidently say that I liked everything! You know, Moldova for me has become one of those countries where I would return specifically on a gastronomic tour.

In this article I will talk about the dishes that we tried over 3 days in Moldova, and also share delicious cafes and restaurants. We have breakfast included in the hotel, so we only thought about food twice a day) By the way, when traveling I prefer hotels with breakfast, I don’t have to think in the morning about where to go and where exactly what I like for breakfast will be. Moreover, I'm not a fan of overeating for breakfast.

I'll start, perhaps, with the placinda. In general, all the names of Moldovan dishes sound very unusual and sometimes funny Placinda- delicious flatbreads of various shapes with feta cheese, cottage cheese, cabbage, potatoes, meat or fruit (cherries or apples). At our hotel for breakfast we had placindas with almost all flavors, but for me the most delicious was the one with feta cheese.

An analogue of placinda, but only from puff pastry - twirls. They are shaped like tubes, and the fillings are almost the same as Moldavian flatbreads. True, unusual ones can be found with sauerkraut or fried onions.

In Vietnam I love Pho soup with beef, in Thailand - Tom Kha with coconut milk with seafood, and in Moldova - Zama. Light chicken soup with homemade noodles and herbs. At home, I sometimes cook something similar with the addition of frozen vegetables, now removing them from the soup, I get Moldavian zama soup. The second most popular soup is Chorba. I didn’t have time to try it, but its composition is more unusual. It is prepared using giblet broth with the addition of kvass or brine, which gives the dish a sour taste. Vegetables include peppers, beans, cabbage or rice (instead of potatoes), and giblets can be replaced with beef.

It is interesting that the name “Chorba” comes from the Turkish “Shurpa”, which is how soups were called in the Ottoman Empire.

Among the Hutsuls Banush or Banosh, and among Moldovans - Hominy. This is finely ground corn grits. I like best the form in which it was served in the cafe, like medallions.

Previously, mamaliga replaced bread for Moldovans, but this was caused more by necessity than by tradition, and now this dish is popular even in elite restaurants. Basic dish served with cracklings, feta cheese, egg, sour cream and sauce Husbands(garlic sauce based on broth with the addition of vegetable oil and dill).

If you replace the cracklings in mamaliga with pork, you get a dish Tokana. Pork is fried in pieces with onions and sometimes wine and sauce are added. Almost every dish is added crushed garlic, which adds a rich aroma. Garlic occupies a special place in Moldovan cuisine; not only the taste preferences of Moldovans are associated with it, but also superstitions (for example, vampires).

Funny names of national dishes of Moldova include Mititei- grilled beef sausages with the addition of lamb and spices.

What do you like more: dolma or cabbage rolls? I’m doing dolma, and the Moldovans have their own name for these dishes - Sarmale. Instead of regular cabbage, pickled cabbage or grape leaves are often used. According to tradition, it is stewed in a cauldron. Of the baked dishes, the meat pancake captivated me. Having seen the photo on the menu, I did not expect that in reality the dish would be large and filling.

I would especially like to highlight the Moldovan pickles. Either I haven’t eaten them for a long time, or they were really so different from ours. For 3 days in Moldova, we completely ate all the pickles that were brought to our dishes, and on the last evening we went to the Moldovanesc restaurant of Moldavian cuisine and ordered a plate of pickles there separately.

Cake became the king of desserts for me Gugutse hat. It combines my favorite pancakes and cherries. The cake is soaked in sweetish cream and sprinkled with chocolate on top. It's just something with something! I usually don’t eat sweets for breakfast, but in Moldova I made an exception. Just looking at the photo makes my mouth water.

Let me remind you that for sweets there are also placintas and vertutas with fruit.

Cafes and restaurants in Chisinau

It’s good that I didn’t devote this article to a cafe in Chisinau. To be honest, we were regular visitors to the network Cafe La Placinte. It was just a few minutes from our hotel, the Bristol Central Park Hotel. The cuisine here is amazing, and the prices are very affordable, even cheaper than in Kyiv.

Several menu pages with prices at La Placinte.

We also went to the Indian cafe Himalayan Kitchen and Bar for dinner; it has a good rating on TripAdvisor, but I was not very impressed with the cuisine.

The second place we visited to get to know Moldovan cuisine better is a new Moldovanesc restaurant. It just opened in the Sun City shopping center in the city center. It is expected that every evening there will be Moldovan dances and performances. When we arrived, there were very few people, or rather we were the only ones that evening, so we didn’t see any dancing.