What Is Romanian Food? Why This Underexplored, Melting-Pot Cuisine Deserves Your Attention

A new cookbook whisks you away to Romania, where the food is anchored in the legacy of empires and sustained by the power of home cooking

Colac, a round bread, is a traditional Romanian staple, served at weddings, funerals, baptisms, harvest, and religious celebrations. Like much of Romanian food, it's full of symbolism: the giving of life, renewal, and the rhythm of the seasons. Jamie Orlando Smith Photography

When Irina Georgescu was young, her mother kept a secret stash of “black market” recipes in an old chocolate box. 

Romanian-born Georgescu, a Wales-based food writer, grew up in Bucharest under communist rule. The regime set out to forcibly industrialize and homogenize the country, stamping out traditional artisanal skills and reducing a colorful swath of regional cookery to recipes contained in a single cookbook.