Taste of Romania, 2005

I spotted a van parked in the Petsmart parking lot the other day with a sign advertising "Taste of Romania 2005".

Here are more details from their website,
http://www.tasteofromania.com/

Date: September 17th - 18th 2005
Time: 12:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location: 3100 N. Ashland
(located at Ashland and Barry, one block south of Belmont)
"Founded in 1991 by Legendary "Little Bucharest" Restaurant
(now part of "Continental Cafe")."

(For discussion of Little Bucharest/Continental Cafe and other Romanian restaurants, please see the following thread:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4687 )

More from the website:

Our delicious food includes ox, pig and lamb, roasted on a spit, stuffed cabbage, charcoaled "mititei", hand-made skinless sausage, and free fresh squeezed grape juice. To keep our tradition alive grape stomping is part of the festival too.

Come and learn more about our culture, enjoy the food, and have fun!

Watch as we roast 150 pigs, 150 lambs, and a 1000 pound Oxen over open fires and then serve them up fresh!

Join us as we showcase the best of the best in Romanian food and drink as well as cultural things that you will NEVER see outside of Romania again.

Watch as we roast 150 pigs, 150 lambs, and a 1000 pound Oxen over open fires and then serve them up fresh!

I might go just to see what a 1000 pound Oxen over an open fire looks like.

Thanks for posting the link for this even.

In the fall in Romania there is a tradition of setting up harvest-themed outdoor eateries called Mustaria's. These spots serve cured lamb called pastrami and mamaliga (polenta) as well as must -- newly pressed and mildly fermented white grape juice-- it has the quality of apple cider that has slightly turned. I'm curious about the Taste of Romania "grape juice".

We went, didn't see any evidence of Oxen or Grape juice. It was fun, but not much going on other than music and eating. The advertising booths were for real estate agents, sattelite TV, and western union. They were roasting pigs when we were there, though they had roast lamb, mitetiti (sp?), chicken and stuffed cabbage. And of course, beer, soda, wine and water.

The music was good, but loud, so it was hard to have a conversation. We were there from around 5-7:30 Saturday night, and it was nice to see so many families with kids. No doubt later in the evening it took on more of a beer hall feel It was a beautiful evening for it.

Just returned from Taste of Romania. Cathy2 will no doubt post her pictures of the dishes we sampled. Based on my memories of Ceausescu-era Romania, the mititei were quite authentic, as were the pickled green tomatoes. However, I don't recall any French's Mustard in Bucuresti. We spotted no roast oxen, but did taste the local version of must (grape juice). Unfortunately, the grapes used were seedless table grapes, rather than the traditional white wine grapes used in Romania. And, pressed on the spot, the juice lacked the mildly fermented quality of must as I remember it. Cathy2 graciously offered to help bring me up to speed on the recent Romanian forays, so we topped off the festival dishes with sarmale and mamaliga cu brinza at Bucovina on West Addison. Totally authentic -- the sarmale brought on memories of the same dish at a country wedding near the gorges of Bicaz. The Romanian tradition of hospitality is such that we, four travelling students, were welcomed at the head table, fed sarmale and tuica, and put up for the night in the homes of the village. As they say in Romania: "Casa mica, inima mare" -- Small
house,big heart!

I met Josephine at the Longone Symposium in Ann Arbor in May. We promised when we got back to Chicago we'd meet up for dinner. So it was very pleasant today to find ourselves on a last minute excursion to Taste of Romania.

Free most (grape juice) was available to any and all who'd slip their cup under the spicket of the press as demonstrated by Josephine:



While we saw no steers, we did see pigs cooking over wood and wood charcoal fires without a single briquette in sight.



While Josephine enjoyed her mititei (skinless sausages) to her great satisfaction



I very much enjoyed my lamb which had a salt rubbed exterior. I don't recall having it in Romania, though Josephine remembers having it in Greece. My Dad and I had it all over Yugoslavia, where you could order it by the kilo along with spinach and boiled potatoes. Notice the bonus of a bit of marrow, which I scooped out onto some bread and ate.



Pickled green tomatoes were mostly enjoyed by Josephine. I had one to sample, while I had seen them many times this was the first time I tasted one.

The mostly live music at this festival were clearly Romanian classics. I saw elders tapping along and mouthing the words along with the younger generation who were just as engaged. I must admit I am used to songs no longer than 3-4 minutes. Some of the songs carried on for long time with a repetitive beat that made me quite antsy.



While we had a live singer present and musicians on stage, the music had a recorded melody, drums and chorus. At any time, a musician could drop out for a moment and the music would continue on regardless. Still this was all a reminder of a home left behind inspiring lots of people to sing along and dance.

Regards,