Mici

Transylvania. The larder is built by season rather than by shopping. The pig is killed around Christmas and worked through in one go into sausages, smoked fat and jellied cuts, while sheep on the summer pastures give a curd that is salted and packed into fir bark as branza de burduf, taking a resinous edge from the wood.

Romania. Mamaliga is a peasant staple that outlived its own necessity. Maize arrived through Ottoman channels and replaced millet, and the polenta made from it is still cut with a thread rather than a knife in some households, served with sheep cheese, soured cream and a fried egg. Sarmale are Ottoman in origin and shared across the Balkans rather than Romanian alone.

Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.