Nicolae Klepper - Taste of Romania: Its Cookery and Glimpses of Its History, Folklore, Art, Literature, and Poetry

Best of Regional African Cooking

Egyptian Cooking

Good Food from Australia

Traditional South African Cookery

Taste of Eritrea

Best of Goan Cooking

Best of Kashmiri Cooking

The Joy of Chinese Cooking

The Art of South Indian Cooking

The Art of Persian Cooking

The Art of Israeli Cooking

The Art of Turkish Cooking

The Art of Uzbek Cooking

Best of Greek Cuisine

Taste of Malta

A Spanish Family Cookbook

Tastes of North Africa

Art of Dutch Cooking

Best of Austrian Cuisine

A Belgian Cookbook

Cooking in the French Fashion

(bilingual)

Celtic Cookbook

English Royal Cookbook

The Swiss Cookbook

Traditional Recipes from Old England

The Art of Irish Cooking

Traditional Food from Scotland

Traditional Food from Wales

The Scottish-Irish Pub and Hearth Cookbook

A Treasury of Italian Cuisine

(bilingual)

Best of Scandinavian Cooking

The Best of Finnish Cooking

The Best of Smorgasbord Cooking

Good Food from Sweden

Best of Albanian Cooking

All Along the Danube

Bavarian Cooking

Traditional Bulgarian Cooking

The Best of Czech Cooking

The Best of Slovak Cooking

The Art of Hungarian Cooking

Art of Lithuanian Cooking

Polish Heritage Cookery

The Best of Polish Cooking

Old Warsaw Cookbook

Old Polish Traditions

Treasury of Polish Cuisine (bilingual)

Poland's Gourmet Cuisine

Taste of Romania

The Cuisine of Armenia

The Best of Russian Cooking

Traditional Russian Cuisine (bilingual)

The Best of Ukrainian Cuisine

Cooking the Caribbean Way

Mayan Cooking

The Honey Cookbook

The Art of Brazilian Cookery

The Art of South American Cookery

Old Havana Cookbook (bilingual)

NICOLAE KLEPPER

To my mother, Irina, whose gift to me of her old Romanian cookbook got me started on writing this book; and to my wife, Ann, for her patience with my endless talk about the book and her harsh but invaluable critiques.

It would just take too much space if I were to list everyone who has contributed to this work and helped me in so many ways. I would like, however, to make special mention of a few, and ask those that I may have overlooked to forgive me.

In the United States, special thanks to the Romanian Cultural Center in New York and especially to Michaela Ionescu for her encouragement and her help with research material. I am also especially grateful to Simion Alb, director of the Romanian National Tourist Office in New York, who has done so much to help make my research trip to Romania a success.

Before publication of A Taste of Romania, I spent four weeks in Romania doing research and collecting additional recipes to complete the book. It was a productive trip, and a great experience. Contrary to the astonishingly negative press in America, I found this diverse and beautiful country a delight. And, in spite of their present difficult economic struggle out of communism and into capitalism and democracy, I found the people warm, hospitable, and very helpful.

In Romania, I would like to thank all the cooks and chefs who contributed their interesting and tasty specialties to the book. Their names are listed with their recipes.

In the city of Brasov, I will always remember Violetta and Constantin Tudose, friends of the family, whom I met for the first time and with whom I spent two days, for their warmth and hospitality. They even called the police to look for me when I was late from my wanderings around the town. Violetta is an exceptionally good cook and hostess, who did some unforgettable Romanian home cooking for me.

In Suceava, where I stayed five days to visit the famous Painted Monasteries, I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Nadejdea Giosu, owners of the delightful small Hotel Balada, for the personal attention, help with my research, and especially for care while I was grounded with tonsillitis and bronchitis. They even convinced a busy doctor to make a house call; their homemade soups and nourishing meals got me back on my feet in two days.

In Iasi, a special thanks to Dr. Kurt W. Treptow, director of the Center for Romanian Studies, and his lovely wife, Laura. Kurt, who has published, among other works, an extremely well written and interesting 600-page History of Romania, proofread my chapter on "The Heritage of Romania and Its People." He was also instrumental in obtaining access to special research rooms at the Library of the University of Iasi. In addition to that he was of great help in arranging my accommodations in Iasi and making his office and staff available to me. To Laura I owe the translation of a poem included in this book.

In Bucharest, I am indebted to Nicky Nicolaescu, country manager for GE, who gave me much invaluable advice on my travels throughout Romania, and through a friend of his found me a cozy, comfortable apartment in the heart of the city, a welcome change from three weeks in hotels.

And finally, back in the United States, I must add to this list Henry and Alfie Butun, good friends, without whom this book would probably never have been published. They are the couple I mentioned in the PREFACE, who one day, over dinner, asked me: "Why don't you write a cookbook?"

Art, Literature, and Cookery

English-Romanian-French Dictionary

Conversion Tables

Ion Creanga-Biographical Notes

Five Loaves-A Folk Tale

Commentary

The Town in the Mountains-A Fable

Grilled Meats, Roasts, Ground Meats, Stews

Mihai Eminescu-Biographical Notes

Doina-A Poem

Lucian Blaga-Biographical Notes

The Soul of the Village-A Poem

Commentary

A Selection of Proverbs

Savory

Sweet

INDEXES

I was twelve years old when my parents left Romania, and took me with them to live in America. It was about the time when Nazi Germany began its incursions into neighboring countries, Neville Chamberlain was still "appeasing" the Axis Powers, and Franklin D. Roosevelt was preparing to campaign for his third term of office. We settled in New York. I went to school, quickly learned the language, became a New Yorker, joined the American Armed Forces, went to the University, married, had kids, a career-and generally gave little thought to my country of birth; that is, until fifty odd years later, when, during an innocent dinner conversation with friends, the seeds of an idea began to germinate. I was going to write a book. Here is how it happened.