Title: Carpathia: Food from
the Heart of Romania
Author: Irina Georgescu
Type: Nonfiction
Genre: Food, Cooking, Cookbook
Publisher: Interlink Books
Date published: May 4, 2020
A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Thomas Allen & Son in exchange for an honest review.
Romania is a true cultural melting pot, rooted in Greek and Turkish traditions in the south, Hungarian and Saxon in the north and Slavic in the east and west.
Carapathia, the first book from food stylist and cooking enthusiast Irina Georgescu, aims to introduce readers to Romania’s bold, inventive and delicious cuisine. Bringing the country to life with stunning photography and recipes, it will take the reader on a culinary journey to the very heart of the Balkans, exploring it’s history and landscape through it’s traditions and food.
From fragrant pilafs, sour borsch and hearty stews, to intricate and moreish desserts, this book celebrates the dishes from a culture living at the crossroads of eastern and western traditions.
⤖ My Review ⬻
For those of you who don’t know, I am a Romanian and I’m more specifically identify as a Transylvanian because I was born in the Transylvania region of Romania. (Come at me with all your vampire jokes if you like–I quite enjoy them!) All that aside, I heard of Irina Georgescu’s Carpathia and found out that it was a cookbook written in English by a Romanian woman that collected recipes from the Carpathia region–which is close to where I was born and where I spent a lot of my childhood–I knew that I had to get a copy.
While I speak Romanian somewhat fluently, reading is a little bit more difficult for me. I was, therefore, very excited to see in Carpathia so many familiar dishes broken down into recipes that were written in English–and therefore easier for me to follow and replicate. I grew up with a lot of this food and since I only recently started really cooking for myself and my significant other, this book came to se at the perfect time.
I actually brought Carpathia with me when visiting my parents and sister and we enjoyed going through the book and reminiscing about which dishes brought up which memories and who we last shared them with. Colourful photos taken from the region that we come from was also a nice treat and added to the nostalgia. I have tried making a few of the recipes from this book now and I can say that the steps are easy to follow and the results have been delicious!
I recommend Carpathia to anyone interested in trying to create some Romanian dishes, anyone interested in what kind of food is made and enjoyed in the region, and also Romanians like myself who live outside of the home country and just want a reminder of home– whether it be a visual on the page or whether you use a recipe to bring one of these nostalgic dishes to life.
⤖ About the Author ⬻
⤖ Places to Purchase the Book ⬻
⤖ Let's Chat ⬻
Thank you for reading my review! Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
Looks like an interesting cookbook, and your own story women into the review made it fascinating! I have no idea about Romanian cuisine, but would like to try it some time.
Oh thank you so much! I wasn’t sure if readers would appreciate that I made the content of this review a bit more personal, so I really appreciate the feedback 🙂
I hope that you’ll be able to try Romanian food someday! 😀
* woven
I actually read it as “woven” hahaha