I’ve been a firm believer of this principle – If you can’t travel, you welcome travelers into your home. That is almost like traveling. That’s why I have been an addict of Couchsurfing. Over the past 5 years, I’ve met amazing people in India and overseas, who have changed the way I approach life. Isn’t it amazing that the virtual world can bring people of similar interests together?
Not very long ago, Costin and Cristina, a lovely Romanian couple wrote to me and asked me if I would like to write for their food blog – RestauranteRomania. With their love for world food, they have been compiling culinary experiences from around the world. Having interacted with them online for sometime, I realised one thing – Foodies are same everywhere in the world. They have a passion to explore, discover and taste the world like no other (no pun intended on taste). So, here is a little interview with my 2 foodie friends from Romania. I eagerly await the day I can take them on a food trip around India.
Q: Give us a little background on why you run a food blog?
Costin: I was 13 years and 11 months old when I first entered a restaurant; then I had a grilled pork steak with chips and a pint of beer. I am 43 years old now. In the mean time (a foodie’s “career” that has lasted 30 years) I have had several wagons of beer and wine, uncountable flocks of pigs, cows, sheep and birds, loads of shoals, alongside with the same quantities of fresh vegetables, cooked or pickled ones, in different restaurants. So I am very much into what happens in a restaurant – good or bad. So, as I only like doing what I know best, I started developing a blog about what happens in the restaurants in my home country, Romania, as well as in restaurants all over the world.
And because, for greater objectivity, I needed a second opinion which I could fully trust, I have chosen to do this blog together with the only person I completely trust without any restraints – my wife Cristina.
Q: What are your favourite travel places and food you have tried there?
I like Romanian food the most and this is why I will present a complete menu consisting of dishes I have had at different restaurants as follows:
a) bean soup with smoked ham in bread crust, with fresh onion and chilies on the side together with a shot of tuica (pronounced “tzouika”, it is Romanian traditional brandy made of plums);
b) grilled trout;
c) veal cooked in cast-iron kettle, with garlic sauce and pickles on the side, or lamb chops with red dry wine;
d) papanasi (pronounced “papanashi”), fried fresh cheese balls, with blackberry jam and fresh cream, or cheese pie with raisins, vanilla and fresh cream.
e) black coffee or tea (no sugar).
Q: Why do you think trying local food when traveling is really important?
Costin: Local food, just like the fish, meat or vegetable markets, tells everything about the culture and history of those places, about the soul of the people and all it has been through – they are genuine things that can never be faked.
Q: What is the one food everyone must try in their life?
Costin: Pizza of all kinds and shapes with loads of hot sauce.
Q: Tell me your favourite food joke.
Costin: At school, Bula’s teacher asks the class to make a phrase with the expression “mother is only one” as homework. The next day the teacher asks Bula’s classmates about the phrases they made with “mother is only one”.
“John, what have you written?”
“Well, when I was ill my mother always stayed with me, mother is only one.”
“Good for you!”
“What about you, George, what have you written?”
“When I didn’t know how to solve a math exercise my mother helped me, mother is only one.”
“Excellent!”
Finally, it was Bula’s turn.
“And you, Bula, what have you written?”
“Well, yesterday when I arrived home, I was very hungry so I asked my mother about something to eat and she told me there were two cutlets in the fridge, I opened the fridge and shouted: MOTHER, (THERE) IS ONLY ONE!!!”
