What to Eat Around the World | Page 2 of 70
Moldovan Wine: Rară Neagră, Underground Cellars, and a Glass from the South
Moldovan wine comes from a country where vines cover seven percent of the farmland. Moldova shares the fetească and rară neagră grapes with Romania, the tsarist era left it French varieties, and the underground cities of Cricova and Mileștii Mici rank among the largest cellars in the world. After two Russian embargoes, most of its bottles now go to the EU, and alongside the big industrial wineries a new wave of small winemakers from the south is taking root.
Cricova Winery: An Underground City of Wine Near Chișinău
Cricova turned the quarried-out limestone tunnels near Chișinău into an underground city of wine: 120 kilometers of tunnels with streets named after grape varieties, electric trains and sparkling wine aging right in the bottle. The state winery's collection holds more than a million bottles, including Göring's war loot and a 1902 Becherovka, the Czech herbal liqueur. Guided tours with tastings, offered in six languages, take you through the underground.
Cușma lui Guguță: A Moldovan Cake of Sour Cherry Rolls
Cușma lui Guguță, "Guguță's sheepskin hat", is a festive cake of Moldovan cuisine named after the hero of Spiridon Vangheli's children's books. Crepe or short-dough rolls filled with sour cherries are stacked into a pyramid and held together with sour cream frosting; the cake is cut crosswise, and the slice looks like a pointed hat. Russia and Ukraine have the same cake too, each under a different name.
Babă Neagră: The Moldovan Cake Baked Almost Black
Babă neagră is a tall, dark cake from the north of Moldova. Eggs, kefir and baking soda bake under a lid for three or even four hours, until the crumb turns almost black - with no cocoa and no chocolate. It used to belong at weddings and funeral feasts; today it has a café of its own in Chișinău, and Moldova is preparing it as its first standalone nomination for the UNESCO list.
Prune Umplute cu Nuci: Prunes with Walnuts in Red Wine
Prunes stuffed with walnut kernels and simmered in red wine with sugar - a dessert served chilled and, at home, most often with sweetened sour cream. It's known all across the former Soviet Union, and stewing the fruit in wine is Moldova's signature touch. In Moldova it belongs on the festive table and on the menus of restaurants serving home-style cooking.
Walnuts: The Kernel of Moldova's Autumn
Moldova ranks among the world's ten largest exporters of walnut kernels, and almost the entire harvest heads abroad, mainly to the European Union. At home, walnuts fill holiday pastries and dried prunes simmered in wine, while the green fruit is cooked into preserves and steeped to make liqueur. In early October, freshly shelled kernels are sold by the cup right at the markets.
Plăcintă: One Name for a Flatbread, a Spiral and a Pie
Plăcintă is the shared name for filled pastries made from thin, hand-stretched dough, common to Moldova, Romania and southern Ukraine. Depending on its shape and filling, it can mean a fried flatbread that fits in your palm, a baked spiral with cheese or a sweet sheet-pan pie. Names like învârtită, saralie and vărzare refer to its other forms, and in Moldova plăcinte are sold everywhere from markets to supermarkets.
Turte de Casă: Flatbreads Baked on a Dry Griddle
Turte de casă are round bread flatbreads baked dry on a griddle or in a pan - no filling and not a single drop of oil. This country bread, shared by Moldova and Romania, mostly keeps soups company; at Christmas it gets layered with walnuts as "the Lord's swaddling clothes", and it has more in common with Hungarian lángos than the deep fryer would suggest.
Sarmale: Cabbage and Grape Leaf Rolls
Sarmale are small rolls of ground meat and rice, wrapped in fermented cabbage or grape leaves and slowly braised in a clay pot. In Moldova they're also called găluște, and no wedding is complete without them. Under the names sarma, dolmadakia or golubtsy, half of Europe shares the same dish - from Turkey and Cyprus to Poland and Hungary.
Borș Scăzut: Moldovan Sour Soup Boiled Down by Half
Borș scăzut is a winter dish of Moldovan cuisine - literally "boiled-down borș". Fatty pork ribs and sauerkraut in whole heads cook until half the liquid has vanished from the pot and the soup has turned into something close to braised pork with cabbage. The sourness comes from the barrel sauerkraut itself. It's cooked mostly in the north and center of Moldova for Christmas and New Year, and eaten with mămăligă and sour cream.