The potential for traditional food and drink products in Eastern Europe: Fruit processing — especially brandy (“tuica”) distilling —in Romania
The traditional peasant way of life has involved the maximum use of local resources for subsistence with a surplus for commercial activity where local supplies and market conditions allow. In the Subcarpathian region of Romania fruit constitute a major resource and plums have been valued for their usefulness in supplying jam, dried fruit and brandy. The latter product (“tuica”) is still finding a considerable commercial outlet despite the competition from urban-based distilleries and from imported spirits. Despite the discouragement of distilling in rural areas under communism (especially in areas that were collectivised) there are good opportunities today in the context of farm diversification and pluriactivity which is crucial for the survival of small farms in the hill regions of the country. The paper outlines the ways in which plums may be valorised, examines the particular significance of plum brandy and considers the potential for future expansion.
The Usage of Non-Wood Forest Products - Culinary and Artisanal Traditions in Romania
Non-wood forest products are essential for numerous industrial branches, as well as for the creation of culinary and artisanal products. From this point of view, Romania has numerous such products. The present article succinctly describes ten products resulted from the local usage of some non-wood forest products: porcini soup in Bucovina (Porcinis mushrooms -Boletus edulis-); hârzobi in Neamt (trout fish- Salmo trutta fario); common beech trout in Covasna (Pleurotus ostreatus mushrooms); truffles-Tuber sp.- zacusca (stew) in Bucharest; holopchi with porridge and porcini or honey mushrooms in Moisei; fir bellows cheese in Bran Moeciu; brandy from bird cherry fruits (Prunus avium) in Brad; tinder mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) in Harghita; fir’s needles for dead wreaths in Sibiu; rattle, rich snowdrop flowers, dried crocus flowers, roots and bark (privet bark, black alder bark, buckthorn bark) in Botiza. Knowing and promoting (creating local brands) these products is extremely important.
Romanian Villages: Rural Planning under Communism
The village is an important research theme in Romania in view of its significance for culture and ecology as well as the modernisation process. Interest developed after Romanian Independence but the efforts of the early historians like A.D. Xenopol (1847–1920) were greatly extended after the First World War, when the enlargement of frontiers, adding Transylvania (and temporarily Bessarabia) to the Old Kingdom embracing Moldavia and Wallachia, gave Romanian scholars access to the whole of the central Carpathian belt. Historians like C. Daicoviciu (1898–1973) and C.C. Giurescu (1901–77) were joined by ethnographers and sociologists, such as D. Gusti (1880–1955) and R. Vuia (1887–1963), ecologists like I. Simionescu (1873–1944) and geographers including I. Conea (1902–74) and V. Mihailescu (1890–1978).1 Interdisciplinary research stimulated by royal patronage was particularly fruitful in the case of the project involving a selection of some sixty representative Romanian villages (‘60 sate romanesti’).2 This gave rise to numerous publications, including monographs and shorter pieces, which formed the core of a distinguished sociology journal of the 1930s: Sociologie Romaneasca.