Romanian and American Cuisine
Food is one of the things we need for survival and is part of our lives . Because of that we decided to compare the romanian cuisine with the american one. During our studies we found some differences ( as traditional food , the dishes they eat) and similarities (Both nations eat fast food and have special food on celebrations) between the american and romanian food.
Romanian cuisine is varied but is influenced by the cuisine of other neighbours like Germans , Serbians and Hungarians.Romania has a large range of traditional food wich is different from a region to another.
The cuisine from Dobrogea is influenced by fauna , climate and by the oriental food. They use especially fish meat , lamb but also beef , porc and chicken. As traditional dishes they have fish soups , tripe soup , filled carp and moussaka.
The cuisine from Muntenia uses especially vegetables , fish , milk and fruits. They eat chicken soup , beef soup and they improve it with rice . Traditional plates in this region are stew (tocanita) , moussaka , tripe soup , stake on grill.
Some of the traditional Romanian dishes are borrowed from other cultures. For example the boeuf salad is a dish we prepare every hollyday but it is borrowed from French cuisine .Also other countries borrowed from us different recepies , so what we consider to be typically Romanian is typical for other countries too. Like Greek people who prepare eggplant salad and moussaka ,or the Bulgarians who have a dish with a large variety of vegetables like zacusca.
Romanian cuisine contains daily dishes but we also have special food thah we eat only at celebrations. For Christmas a pig is traditionally sacrificed by a family and a wide variety of dishes are prepared : porc jelly , stew .At Easter as principal dish is served roast lamb , drob (meat and fresh vegetables mixed) and pasca (a pie made with cheese) .
American cuisine was also influenced along the time . For example during the European Colonization the stile of cookery changed and numerous ingredients were introduced from Europe . The style continued to expand during the 19th and 20th century with the influx of immigrants from various nations across the world.
Americans don't have time to cook home and thah's why they eat frequently at restaurants or fast-food. According to Eric Schlosser the typical american consumes 3 hamburgers and 4 orders of fries every week. These fries are prepared in a special manner that makes them taste good : "A maze of red conveyer belts crisscrosses in and out of machines that wash, sort, peel, slice, blanch, blow-dry, fry, and flash-freeze potatoes.Workers in white coats and hard hats keep everything running smoothly"* , "the taste of a fast food fry is largely determined by the cooking oil- a mixture of about 7 % cottonseed oil and 93% beef tallow"**. Among these fries and the large variety of hamburgers there are also other plates : "an aspect of the paradox of america's plenty is that fast-food - hamburgers , tacos , fried chicken, sandwiches, pizza, any food thah could be eaten while moving"***.Fast food is certainly available all over the USA and is very popular. We find a wide variety of fast-food restaurants serving all sorts of food from American hamburgers to Italian pizza and Chinese egg rolls.Some of the fast-food is quite delicious and inexpensive.
Healthy food is popular in USA , everyone tries dieting and losing a few pounds.That's why the Americand have also Salad bars and the restaurants offer you low fat items in the menu.
Like in romania in America are also traditional dishes by locations and states. For example in Massachusetts we have corn muffin as traditional , Florida is recognised for fish , California for pizza, and Georgia for peaches.They have also here the apple pie , turkey , and hotdogs as traditional plates.
At certain celebrations like Thanksgiving or Christmas they eat turkey, ham , sweet potatoes ,cranberry sauce with their family. On 4th July they celebrate with hotdogs and hamburgers, cookies and cakes.
American people don't cook like Romanian people and they prefer to go to the restaurants because their lack of time .The Romanians eat more traditional food prepared by themselves, but both countries have the same main ingredients in preparing the food.. Each country has traditional food like ciorba in Romania and sweet potatoes or apple pie in America.
Working at this project we found out interesting things about the american food,about their traditional food and their alimentation .
In conclusion each country has traditional food,even though some of the dishes are borrowed from other contries. Every country has his celebrations when thez eat various plates.In our opinion Romanian poeple eat healthier food than the Americans , because they cook more at home. American people prefer junk food and thatts whz most of them are fat .
Bibliography :
* is from Fast Food Nation , Chapter Why The Fries Taste Good
** is also fron Fast Food Nation , Chapter Why The Fries Taste Good - Food product design
*** is from the encyclopedia American Popular Culture , Volume 2 , Chapter Foodways
Outline
Class Activities & Discutions :
First we will present to the class some informations about American and Romanian cuisine. After we will bring a little song and the class must complete the missing word , after that we will form 2 groups and we will ask them to imagine a funny event in the kitchen . Also we will bring a recepie in wich is missing a ingredient and they will have to find out what is missing.
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