Every country has traditional recipes for Christmas, Easter or other events. In the villages of Bucovina life is still the same, people still follow the same old traditions and preserve their way of life. From the beautiful practices and winter habits, to the amazing Christmas traditional food, Bucovina is a fascinate place to spend your winter holidays.
A week or two before Christmas we have the pig’s sacrifice (pig’s Ignatius). They do lots of specific products to be served on Christmas or New Year: “chisca” with rice, blood or liver, sausages, fresh or smoked bacon, greaves or “toba or piftie” (pork jelly). They are made according to traditional recipes.
On December 24th, my family has a fasting dinner with 12 types of fasting food. You will find 3 recipes of beans: beans salad, mashed beans (roe of beans) and beans with tomato sauce. We would also have on the table: eggplant salad, stewed prunes, “coliva” (a dessert made from husked wheat grains), apples compote, potato salad, “sarmale” with mushrooms, mushrooms salad, a vegetable soup and vegetable salad.
All the family will get together and enjoy a great dinner in the family. We will wait for caroling and talk about our year. At the end of the evening the parents and grandparents will tell stories about their childhood, funny stories about Christmas and family.
Christmas is a very important holiday in Bucovina with lots of religious practices, rituals and ceremonies, with prohibitions and superstitions. Our traditional recipes for Christmas start with “sarmale” (stuffed cabbage rolls), “bors de perisoare” (sour meatball soup), “tochitura Moldoveneasca” (pork stew with roasted pork sausages, roasted pork chop, sheep cheese and polenta), boletus mushrooms with sour cream, pickled mushrooms and red peppers and end with “poale’n brau” pies, “cozonac”(sweet bread with poppy seeds or walnuts).
Everything is washed down with “palinca” (double distilled plum brandy). For the ladies we have a wide variety: cherry wine, wild berries brandy and homemade wine.
I got hungry from writing this post. I am going to the kitchen. Enjoy!
Cooking Without Limits 
mmm! Suna minunat! 😉 Eu nu prea fac mancare romaneasca, dar de Craciun fac cremsnit, saleuri cu chimen si salata de boeuf. 😉
Ce bun! 😉
I got hungry looking at them! Lovely post about a traditional take on the season.
Thank you
Wow! All of that sounds and looks so delicious!
Thank you
Sounds/looks lovely! Wish we could half the ingredients fresh, where I am! But some day in Italy…!
Thank you
It looks and sounds wonderful- thank you for sharing 😊
You are welcome
Lovely traditional recipes and spectacular photographs. The article doesn’t say where in the world is Bucovina. I will google it to round out the picture I have in my head.
Thank you. Bucovina is a part of Romania.
As a vegetarian, the fasting menu sounds especially appealing. Thank you! 😉 xoM
You are welcome
Your Christmas traditions remind me of my home country, Poland. Which is why it’s my favorite Holiday as it’s so rich in traditions. Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome
It is always a pleasure to read your posts. I was born in Bucharest, but I never traveled to Bucovina or to other beautiful places that Romania offers. My family is from Transilvania and that is the only place I know. Life was so dull under Ceausescu.
Life was hard under Ceausescu.
Well, I clearly need to get myself down to Bucovina! The cozonac and palinca especially sound delicious. Excuse me whilst I salivate…
I know the feeling.
I really enjoy your post about Romania. I cannot wait to go back and visit 🙂
Kindest regards to you 😉
Thank you.
I remember my mom and dad making coliva and piftie and the uncertainty of getting the jelly to ‘gel’ sometimes with the pig’s head purchased here in Ontario. And of course, sarmale, with the pork that my father cut by hand into tiny little pieces while sitting at the kitchen table. She’d fry it up with onions and I’d steal some from the frying before she added the raw rice. Sometimes, I’d be slow about getting to the meat and then I’d end up with some crunchy raw rice in my spoon … it was so good, I didn’t care. 🙂
Thank you for the memories your post brought up.
You are welcome. I am happy you have so nice memories.
Reblogged this on Recipe Dreams and commented:
I’m really curious about those…
A holiday isn’t a holiday in Chinese culture without all the associated festive foods. Wonderful to see that it’s the same around the world 🙂
When you say holiday, you say festive food.
Beautiful post!! Love the captures!
Thank you
Sounds lovely! What a nice variety yet so many vegetable dishes! It looks so refreshing and healthy.
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What wonderful traditions. I long for a White Christmas – summer is just getting started in New Zealand.
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Fantastic!! Brings back fond memories of my time in Romania. Thank you!😊👍🏻👌
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Nice post!!!! colorful, like everytime.. soothing to my eyes 🙂
Thank you
I love holiday traditions all the recipes sounds yummy.
Thank you
welcome
Reblogged this on Me and My Life!!!! and commented:
Check out this site yummy recipes
Thank you
welcome
Thank you for sharing your stories and traditions. Your pictures are lovely!
You are welcome. Thank you
I love reading about places people keep the old traditions, especially the food ones. The “tochitura Moldoveneasca” sounds like something I would love. I have a wonderful farmer I buy pork from and make poek dishes from all over the world and share with him. He never knew all the ways people coooked pork.
I am happy to tell you about our traditions.
Hi, when you say fasting dinner, do you mean your family fasts on Christmas eve and then have a fasting dinner, like the muslims do for Ramadan?
The fasting period means eating only vegetables and fruits: no meat, eggs, cheese, butter, etc.
Love this post! It’s so fun hearing about what everyone’s Christmas/Thanksgiving/New Year’s traditions are. Thank you for sharing!!
You are welcome
Interesting post, I always like to read about other countries traditional foods for feasts.
I have to say that I found some of the traditional recipes you mentioned also in the hungarian tradition, of course with some differences but similar, as the stuffed cabbage for example (töltött kaposzta in hungarian) 🙂
Thank you
Interesting. And it takes a long time to prepare it all, right?
Yes, it does.
Plum brandy?? That’s a drink I can get behind. Do you make it or does it come from a bottle? -Kat
We make it.
Hello! Wow loved reading this.
If you fancy reading a new blog, I am new and starting to post my own recipes 🙂
Thanks!
Hi. Thank you. I will