Blog

Romanians tend to love their holyday feasts. So much so that the news next day has a section dedicated to how swamped the ambulances were by people sick from overeating or over drinking. Binging is often the norm, for reasons, I assume, and can be the subject of some sort of study or other.

Were I inclined to speculation, and luck would have it, I happen to be, I would say that partially it has to do with being a poor country with a history of privation. People who don’t usually get to indulge, pick a few holydays, save money, make effort and sacrifice other things, and have a couple of big meals. It may be a status thing – show your wealth via a big feast. Maybe it’s just a hang up from pre-modern times. Romanian weddings can be quite excessively lavish, for similar reasons.

It may be the long lent before Easter. Seven weeks of no animal products, no meat, no eggs, no dairy, in late winter and early spring when most of the fruits and vegetables that would make going vegan easier do not grow, and the staples are potatoes, beans, cabbage, and maybe zacusca. Although few keep full lent these days.

But this is not about why Romanians binge on Easter. It is about what they binge on. Which is lamb. And usually lots of eggs. And spring onions. And combinations of the above. Traditionally, a family buys a whole lamb, which is cooked and eaten nose to tail. Little is thrown away, and trying all the different dishes may be a reason for overeating.

My family’s lamb was 11 kilograms this year, but as we do not really overeat as much as other Romanians (never has someone gotten sick from too much food), some of it goes to the deep freeze. Other parts are cooked as you may see in the following pictures of a full Romanian Easter Feast. I will not claim it to be typical of all or even most Romanians, but let’s say it’s authentic enough.

The day starts with coloured eggs, which are smashed together before eating. One person holds an egg, another hits it with his own. The one doing the hitting says “Christ has risen” and the one on the receiving end answers “Truly He has risen.” And this goes on until as many eggs are smashed as people want to eat. The eggs are simply peeled and eaten with salt, pepper, and maybe mustard, with some cheese, radishes, and spring onions.

The meal is usually supplemented with drob, which is an Easter dish made thus: take the organs of the lamb and maybe a little meat, boil, chop finely, mix with beaten eggs and fine chopped spring onions, season to taste, stuff in the lambs stomach – properly cleaned in advance – and roast in the oven. White wine is generally drunk during this morning meal, although beer can be a substitute.

The second meal of the day – first lunch, around 1 pm, and usually my favourite, is Ciorbă, which I am not always sure how to describe. It’s a type of soup which Romanians differentiate from other type of soup, which is just called soup. More often than not, Ciorbă is sour, but not always. Wikipedia link for the curious. Ciorbă depends on the ingredients and the souring agent, which is often Borș (more wikipedia) of similar etymology but different from Russian borsch, but it can also be soured with lemon, vinegar, pickled cabbage juice, or a type of Verjuice made from unripe fruit, most often grapes or cherry plums.

The base of the ciorbă is mostly large bones of the lamb with a little meat – the best parts of meat are saved for grilling and roasting – the bors and all sorts of vegetables and greens. Easter being in spring, usually all sort of weeds start growing and are added for flavour. Sorrel, Rumex patientia, which I don’t know how to properly say in English, ramsons, and others. What is never missing is lovage, added during cooking and fresh chopped as a garnish before eating. My mother makes the ciorbă more sour than most – bors and sorrel contribute to this, which is how I like it and also makes a decent hangover helper.

Besides the liquid, you get an piece of bone with some meat on it. The choice piece is traditionally the whole lamb’s head, especially for the brains – Romanians eat brains in lots of ways, mostly formed into patties, breaded and fried. I never liked the texture of brain so avoid it – this was considered strange when, as a kid people offered me the brain as a special treat, and I refused. Anyway, I don’t care for a whole lamb’s head, though my cousins liked it so much that my aunt had a huge pot and boiled five whole heads bought from the butchers in her ciorbă so each member of the family got one.

By afternoon some barbecued lamb is made – usually ribs and chops and such – and the red wine is brought forth. The lamb usually does not have any sides – it is eaten with a lot of mixed greens salad. Not much to say about this one, it is meat on charcoal really.

Whomever is hungry in the evening eats some of the over roast meat – with a sauce based on a ton of green onions and some wine.

During the day traditional pastry is also eaten.

Pasca, which basically means Easter cake, is made of a pastry with lots of cheese, not too sweet. Cozonac is pastry with various fillings – most often walnut or cocoa, sometimes Turkish delight. I prefer the walnut myself. The pastry also goes well with a nice glass of wine. In fact there is an old Romanian saying – Is there anything better in life than cozonac with wine? Yes, wine…

And that is about it for this. Here’s some pheasants on the lawn on Easter day…