It’s Fall, and in many Romanian homes this is equivalent with preparing for the winter. Since fresh produce are hard to find in the winter, are usually more expensive and generally tasteless, Romanians conserve the tastes of the Autumn and its finest flavors. The following is the recipe of a traditional Romanian bread spread, called Zacuscă. The origins of the dish are Russian (закуска, zakuska) but the Romanian Zacuscă recipe is significantly different compared to its Slavic relative.

Courtesy Adi Hădean.

Zacuscă Ingredients

3-4 kg fresh eggplants
1,5 kg fresh tomatoes
3 kg fresh red peppers (called gogoşari – in US pimento peppers. Alternatively you could use three types of meaty peppers, like pimento, capia peppers, sweet bell peppers, etc)
1 kg onions
1 kg minced carrots
salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
1 kg sunflower oil (or virgin olive oil)

Preparing the Zacuscă Spread

Bake the eggplants and the peppers over an open flame (preferably grill) till their skins blacken. Peel them off, and wash the vegetable throughly with warm water. Mince the eggplants gently (don’t use food processors, as they transform the pulp into mush). Chop the pepper as well, in small cubes, and mix with the eggplant pulp.

Peal off the tomatoes and mince them (alternatively you could use 500 g tomato paste, but I believe that the fresh ones give a better taste).

Chop onions and place them in a large pot, add the minced carrots and the oil and let fry till golden over medium heat flame. Add the mix of eggplant and pepper to the boiling oil and onion, add tomatoes, then spice with salt and black pepper. Boil on low heat for about 2 hours, stirring repeatedly.

Courtesy Adi Hădean

If you want to save it for the winter, spoon the mixture into sterilized jars, seal them then boil the jars for about 20-30 minutes into a large water bath canner. Allow to cool in the same water.

Other recipes might include cooked beans, mushrooms, celery or other ingredients, according to taste, including spices. It’s really up to your fantasy to “improve” this. You could add zucchini, for example, or even eliminate some of the ingredients mentioned above (like carrots). Some replace eggplants with cooked beans, and so on. There’s no unbreakable rule – feel free to experiment till you find the right taste. The recipe above is my personal favorite. Zacuscă tastes warm or cold – serve as you will.

Courtesy Diva

Few towns in Romania have succeeded in preserving their medieval charm and flavor; among the Transylvanian ones, Sibiu stands alone.

It played an important part in the economic, political, religious and cultural history of the Romanian provinces. Founded upon a Neolithic settlement, near the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Cedonia, whose traces are still preserved, Sibiu was first mentioned in documents as far in the XIIth century. Beginning with the year 1150, a massive Germanic colonization took place; the first colonists (Flanders, Francons, Saxons) came from the western regions of the Rhine, found the pastures of Heaven and settled here.

The 19 guilds, whose members practiced 25 crafts, already mentioned in the year 1376, carried on active trade relationship with the Romanian provinces and withe Europe.

In the Middle Ages, every major guild had built his own tower of defense, integrated in the fortifications of the city. The guilds have disappeared by the decree of 1872, when they were converted into handicraft cooperatives.

The tradition of traveling apprentices has been revived in Sibiu since 2007, the year the town was the Cultural Capital of Europe. In Sibiu, the apprentices have their house and even an association called “Casa Calfelor” (House of Apprentices, Gesellenherberge, Maison des Compagnons – Sibiu / Hermannstadt). To revive the traditional arts and crafts, the Evangelical parish made available for apprentices a building at no. 3, Huet Place, which was restored by them.

The tradition of traveling apprentices has been preserved in countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Norway, Sweden.

Approximately 700 young people trained in trades of carpenters, masons, stone, potters, blacksmiths and sculptors have chosen to start on the road for three years and one day, wearing the apprentices’ uniform and hat, observe the rules imposed by their brotherhood. Thus, to be allowed to wear the apprentice uniform, the young are not allowed to be married, have children, debts or other obligations, must face with honesty and honor the commitments that they must take and follow the rules and traditions of their brotherhood. Both their presence in Sibiu since the Middle Ages and their tours have contributed in time to strengthen ties with European handicraft centers; from all points of view, they were a bridge unconventional but more vivid between Sibiu and Europe.

Before leaving, will be tailored for the apprentices special clothes in an old workshop, where the tradition of those clothes is kept. Apprentices’ costumes consist of splay trousers, jacket and coat of different colors – black, cream or blue -, white shirts, a special hat and black boots.

Being an apprentice not require a substantial material gain. Usually the apprentices goes out with moderate amounts and are forced to cope in the world, where they works to receive money, food and hosting, making it an opportunity to meet different mentalities and habits.

Tourists who visit the city of Sibiu during July 10 to August 6 have the opportunity to see working 17 journeyman from various European countries, gathered here for the third time, on Fortress Street, between the Potters Tower an the Carpenters Tower. During the workshops, the apprentices present their job; carpenters, potters, jewelers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, builders of musical instruments, masons, sculptors, can be followed in exercising their profession. Visitors can admire also a photo exhibition, which reminds of different moments in years in which they began to arrive in Sibiu. The exhibition covers the history of craftsmen travel, the various journeyman associations, and the differences existing between the traditional traveling apprentices and the companionway of French craftsmen.