What to Eat Around the World | Page 5 of 70
Ryazhenka: A Post-Soviet Fermented Drink Made from Baked Milk
Ryazhenka is made by baking milk for several hours first and only then fermenting it - so what sets it apart from yogurt isn't the bacteria, but the milk itself. Soviet dairies carried this East Slavic classic across the whole empire, and in Moldova it's still sold under the Romanian name lapte covăsit; Romanian has no word of its own for it.
Borș Acru: Fermented Bran Liquid for Souring Romanian and Moldovan Soups
Borș acru, also called borș de tărâțe, is a sour fermented liquid made from wheat bran that's used to sour soups all over the Romanian-speaking world - from zeamă to ciorbă - with its heartland in historical Moldavia on both banks of the Prut. Russian borscht is its namesake, not a relative. At home it's started with a huște starter, and it's also sold in bottles.
Ajika: A Hot Sauce from the Caucasus
Ajika is a hot sauce made from tomatoes, peppers and garlic - a Soviet-era dip with a Caucasian name that gets preserved for the winter all over the former USSR; Moldova is just one of the countries where it has made itself at home. The name is Abkhaz and simply means salt, and the original Caucasian paste got by without tomatoes and without any cooking. On the Moldovan table it goes with grilled meat, bread and potatoes.
St. Martin's Goose: Why It's Roasted on November 11
St. Martin's goose is one of the best-loved Czech autumn traditions: around November 11, it's roasted with cabbage and dumplings all over the country. But its roots don't lie in the legends about the birds that gave St. Martin away - they lead instead to the date when the farming year ended and dues were paid. And Austria, Germany, Poland and Hungary celebrate the same feast, each in its own way.
La Veranda Restaurant, Prague: A Tasting Menu Next to a Library of Cookbooks
La Veranda has been cooking modern European food with a Mediterranean base in Prague's Josefov since 2002, and the Michelin guide lists it among its recommended restaurants. Alongside a tasting menu with a wine pairing that names both the suppliers and the winemakers, it draws you in with an unusually cozy interior, a library full of cookbooks - and a kitchen that can make a potato peel shine.
Where to Eat Lunch in Prague (2026)
A big guide to lunch in Prague where I only write about the places I like: Czech classics, canteens serving lunch for under 200 CZK (8 EUR), Vietnamese bistros, ramen and Michelin stars. For each place you get my impressions from the visit, rough prices and hours - over thirty tried-and-tested addresses in one article.
Tavče Gravče: North Macedonia's National Baked Bean Dish
Tavče gravče are large white beans baked with onion, paprika and dried mint in a shallow clay dish - the same dish they're served in. North Macedonia's national dish is traditionally cooked on Fridays, with meat added outside of fasting periods. The best version is said to use Tetovo beans, which are slowly disappearing from Macedonian fields. I had to eat my way to liking it.
Pastrmajlija: Macedonian Flatbread with Meat
Pastrmajlija is a Macedonian flatbread of leavened dough with raised edges, baked with cubes of meat cured in salt and red pepper. It comes from the east of the country, from Štip and Veles, where it used to be a winter dish after the pig slaughter; today every bakery makes it. It got its name from dried mutton, but the meat on it has long been fresh pork.
Ajvar: Roasted Red Pepper Spread
In autumn, almost every family in North Macedonia and across the whole former Yugoslavia cooks ajvar: the roasted peppers are peeled, ground and stirred in oil for hours until they thicken. The name comes from the Turkish word for caviar, Serbs and Macedonians argue over who invented it, and in a Macedonian restaurant it's the first thing to reach the table, to go with bread, cheese and grilled meat.
Burek: The Breakfast You Find All Over the Balkans
Burek belongs to the whole former Ottoman world, from Turkey across the Balkans to Tunisia, and in every country it has a different name and different rules about what can go inside. In North Macedonia it's breakfast: a huge round tray of layered pastry with meat or cheese, cut into quarters, with a cup of yogurt on the side. Why Albania hands it to you and Skopje puts it on a plate, and what Sarajevo and Niš keep arguing about.