Food

I grew up in Transylvania, Romania as a child and left for U.S when I was a teenager. As you might remember from the history review, Transylvania used to be part of Hungary; therefore, I found some of the foods very similar at least in Hungary, and I was able to compare them to how I remembered them as a child. Here are some the foods that I tried or was familiar with:

· Stuffed cabbage – this is one of the most common dishes I ate as a child and it tasted very similar in Hungary. This contains a mix of rice, meat and cabbage.
· Bread – I really enjoyed the variety of breads I found. If you love bread person (which I do), this is the place to be.
· Eggplant spread – this was given to us as an appetizer at the Katska Restaurant and everyone I was with enjoyed it. It is a spread made out of mashed eggplants with some mayonnaise and some spices. This is one appetizer my mom always enjoys making and it is very traditional in Romania.
· Soups – Soup and bread was a very common meal in Romania. I liked most of the soups I ordered in Budapest; however, did not wanted to try the fish soup since I never liked it. The other soups such as Goulash and vegetable soups were great.
· Deserts – we went to one of the famous desert restaurants and I got to try Dobos and Kremes, which were great deserts and similar to Romanian. Also, on the way to the baths, we found a stand with Colaci, which was a tall pastry that looks like a bee-hive. This was another one of my favorite deserts as a child.
· Pretzels – although I didn’t get to try these, pretzels were sold everywhere in Budapest. What was difficult to understand is how they could be fresh. We were in about 40-45 degree weather, and the pretzels were sold on the street so I thought most likely they were not fresh. This was only my opinion so if anyone tried them, I would love to know.

Now, I have been in Prague for two days. I also have had the chance to eat some of the food offered. One of my favorite meals has been the sausage with red cabbage and of course with bread. I also discovered something that I did not expect. Here in Prague as well as in Budapest, in order to get water, you have to order bottled water. Another surprise in Prague is that beer is less expensive than both pop and water (mineral and flat) in a restaurant. I guess this kind of goes with the fact that when we went to the crystal company, Ruckl Crystal, we learned that beer is healthy because it contains minerals and it contains only 4% of alcohol. Also, beer is allowed and encouraged to be consumed on the job at the crystal company.

Overall, the food is great and I enjoy it very much. One thing to remember is that it’s very difficult to eat healthy here. I try to have a healthy breakfast due to some of the choices offered such as fruit, eggs, yogurt and bread; however, the other meals of the day, definitely not healthy. Just remember you are walking everywhere so you can afford the extra calories.