What to Eat in Romania: Typical Romanian Food and Specialties | Page 2 of 2
Colivă: The Funeral Wheat Romanians Hand Out for the Soul of the Dead
Colivă is sweet boiled wheat with walnuts, sugar and cinnamon, shaped into a mound and decorated with a cross of cocoa. In Romania it isn't cooked for lunch but for funerals and memorial services, after which it is handed out outside the church as alms for the soul of the dead. The custom is shared by the whole Orthodox world from Greece to Serbia, and the name comes from a small Greek coin.
Gogoși: Romanian Doughnuts the Size of Your Palm
Gogoși are Romanian yeasted doughnuts that bakeries sell plain with sugar, filled with jam or chocolate, and even with a salty filling of cheese and dill. They belong to the Central European family of Krapfen, fánk and pączki, go by four different names across Romania, and the same word also means a lie. I ate them in Sibiu, straight out of the fryer, before a rideshare to Cluj-Napoca.
Palaneț: A Stuffed Bun from the Transylvanian Plain
Palaneț is a filled pastry from the Transylvanian Plain in Romania: a sheet of yeasted bread dough with cabbage, cheese, potatoes or apples piled in the middle and the corners pulled together before baking. Romanian borrowed the name from the Ukrainian word for a plain loaf and its home is the village of Ceanu Mare, but the easiest place to buy one is a bakery in Cluj, savory and sweet side by side.