With Christmas approaching (a bit too) fast, I decided to write a bit about the Christmas food in Romania that we eat here for this occasion. Here being Arad, Romania, an area in which the cuisine has a lot of similarities with the Hungarian one and is quite different than the cuisine in the southern part of Romania (think Bucharest) or eastern part (think Iasi).

Before Christmas

When I was a young girl we still used to grow our own pigs. At that time, I did eat some pork meat (but I gave it up by the time I was 18). So preparations for Christmas began on Ignat (Dec 20) or around that day when the pig was killed and turned into food. Sausages, blood sausages, sausages made with the liver…smoked bacon, you know the kind which will kill you if you keep eating it year after year.

Then, about a week before Christmas, the sweet stuff started being prepared. The complicated dough had to be refrigerated so many times and tossed on the table…God only knows why. And yes, it would use the lard from the pork…again, not exactly the healthiest cuisine. Maybe a babka (cozonac, Romanian) would be baked. I remember grandma making so many kinds of sweets and pastries that they would last from Christmas until New Year’s and then she’ll start baking again.

Walnuts and apples were on the table and they were the traditional gift to give carolers. Oh and to those old enough: wine and/or plum brandy (tuica, Romanian).

We’ve always had a tree. Technically it should be decorated on Christmas Eve (I do that now that I am older) but I was so impatient when I was little that I’d be decorating it days before Christmas. And, when I was little, I would make my own ornaments out of pine cones.

Christmas Lunch

I never had Christmas Dinner, it was ALWAYS Christmas Lunch. In our house, the lunch would start with an appetizer. It could be “salata de beuf” – a salad made from boiled carrots, parsnips and potatoes, cut in small cubes, then pickled cucumbers are added along with canned peas and home-made mayo. It also comprised either boiled beef meat or boiled chicken meat (I always make it without meat now) – or an >eggplant salad (baba ganoush but with mayo not tahini). Sometimes “piftie” (pork knuckles boiled for hours with garlic and carrots; then it would be let to cool down and become a wobbly thing) would also be an appetizer (but mostly for Boboteaza – Epiphany, when it’s actually a traditional dish to be eaten). And let’s not forget those sausages made at Ignat. They showed up on the Christmas table. Always.

Then came the soup. It could be a sour soup made with veggies, rice and meat (pork, chicken or beef) or a bowl of traditional chicken soup with home-made noodles. Or chicken stock with dumplings (the meat would be served for the second course).

Relax, we are not done. The main course (or is it second course?) was usually mashed potatoes with some fried meat (usually pork, lately chicken or turkey). Or the potatoes would be baked with condiments. Or maybe a sauce would be added (such as sauce from canned cherries or quinces). Usually, pickles were served. Or cabbage salad (lately).

An alternative to the fried meat is the famous “sarmale” (meat stuffed cabbage rolls), which can be made with various fillings and rolled in various “coatings” (cabbage leaves, vine, turnip leaves). Traditionally they are made with minced pork and rice, rolled in cabbage leaves and served with “mamaliga” (polenta) and sour-cream.

By now you’ve probably added the calories for an entire day…but wait, it’s NOT done, yet. The sweets arrive along with some sweet liqueur (usually homemade from sour cherries or some sort of berries).

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Christmas Lunch As a Vegan

I’ve started making changes some years before I went fully vegan. As I settled into my own house and changed my lifestyle (gave up red meat, fried food, opted for eating semi-vegetarian) and I still continued to visit my parents for the Christmas Lunch, the pork pretty much turned into chicken or turkey. And those sausages have pretty much vanished.

As a vegan since mid-2017, obviously everything that was of animal origin has vanished. I cook the vegan equivalents of the traditional foods. I made vegan Beauf Salad (I usually add some mushrooms and, of course, the mayo is vegan). I made eggplant dip with vegan mayo, or potatoes salad with vegan mayo.

The veggies soup is served as is or with vegan noodles and sometimes vegan balls (ready made or made by me from minced tofu and/or beans). The cabbage rolls are easy to make vegan – just use minced tofu, soy chunks, or mushrooms. I pair them with polenta and vegan yogurt.

Since neither me nor mom are great bakers… things are simple when it comes sweets. Vegan Babka – either I make it or we buy it. Sometimes I made cookies. And yes, roasted chestnuts as well as roasted butternut squash. I’ve made vegan beigli (Hungarian poppy seed roll or walnut roll) as well.

Dad’s often making mulled wine for me, although wine or plum brandy is also served in the “pure” forms.

Caroling

When I was younger, we used to go caroling whether it was to my grandparents or cousins house or to friends. Of course, I grew out of it. Somehow, with all the carols blasting at high volume in stores weeks before Christmas, I lost interest in them.

But if you want to have a traditional Christmas celebration in Romania, complete with good food, things to drink and caroling – oh and even snow – plan to visit Maramures or a rural guesthouse in Transylvania. You can even see how the poor pigs are being killed and turned into food.

>>also read about Vegan Traditional Christmas Food in Romania and Traditional Orthodox Easter Food in Romania

Photo credits:
supa cu galusti (chicken stock with dumplings)
Cozonac (spongecake)
Christmas Tree
Tiramisu