Food

Bună seara! (Good evening!)

The food here in Moldova is quite different from anything I've eaten before, but I really can't complain about it at all! When we all met up together for a Welcome Ceremony at the school, all of the host moms were talking about who can and can't eat what. It was pretty funny. They totally don't understand why I can't eat dairy, and vegetarians just confuse them to pieces!

My first introduction to Moldovan food was placinta, a common Moldovan fast food itemwhich is basically a form of fried bread with various things inside, such as cabbage, cheese, or potatoes. From my understanding, there can be a lot of different things there, too, such as meats and other veggies. Then I came to my host family and was introduced to more things! While they didn't have an actual meal prepared for me, they had plenty of what I assume were leftovers. There was egg salad (with corn! yum!), and potato salad, some sort of soup (with anchovies- my first time ever eating them!), a cucumber salad, and I think that was about it. What's interesting is they eat HOT soup any day of the year, no matter what the temperature. We then sat down as a family (me, the mom, the dad- who just received a haircut, 2 daughters, grandson, and in-laws). We drank wine, they talked, the daughter translated, and then the men went to the store to get more things. One of which was something like beef jerky- only fish, raw salmon from a package, and bbq potato chips. I tried the fish jerky but steered away from the others. It was, fishy. :) The best part, though, was the tangy sweetness of the lemons+sugar! They cut very thin slices of lemons (peel and all) and then covered them in sugar. Wowza, I was in heaven!

Then this morning it was time for more food. Bread, leftover egg salad, and compote, which is a stewed hot fruit drink. Delicious! I'm in love with it! This morning it was made with cherries, and tonight it was cherries and apples. I can't wait to learn how to make it.

Dinner consisted of these incredible grilled castravetelui (cucumbers), fresh tomatoes, fresh zucchini, and then a cabbage soup...with more compote!

She also brought out a 2 liter bottle of what I thought was beer, but it turned out to be their homemade vinul rosu (red wine). It was pretty strong, but definitely something to write home about.

That's all of the food for now...