Romanian food is great - you just need to a broad mind and a big belly!

Love it or hate it, you will need to get use to eating Romanian food and having blind faith in the fact the water trickling out of a pipe in the mountains or down some unwashed peasant's well is actually clean. There is actually a UV pen you can buy in Bucharest for sterilizing the cup of water - though knowing Romanian paranoia, I would not be surprised to hear that UV in someway changes water from a natural drink into some lethal, cancer filled drink.

The most popular food is the pork. You find it everywhere. This of course makes it tricky if you eat out with Jews, Muslims or vegetarians - it is safe to ay Romanians love their pork. We once ordered a traditional platter - the Jew asks if it was pork free - of course, the waiter, keen for a sale promised it was - one smell proved him wrong.

There has been a poor uptake of Soya meat alternative here as it simply is not pork. Romanians have a fear of anything genetically modified, so Soya bans are viewed with great suspicion, and all those meaty though chemical flavorings do not help its cause. Saying that, they’d love adding extra dried flavors to the soups so it makes little sense in the long run.

Very few Romanians seem to be into eating a daily dose of breakfast cereal. I go to the countryside and I am always genuinely surprised to see my muesli supplies running low - grandpa eats nothing, grandma has no teeth so cannot easily eat muesli, so where does it go? All the more of a mystery when you think I am only allowed to buy sugar free organic muesli. This summer I found out the truth - every morning grandma takes this ridiculously expensive cereal and throws it to the two cockerels. Apparently muesli is only fit for pigs in Romania - and a rather die-hard Englishman!

A Romanian country breakfast is fabulous - it will probably include a decent amount of freshly brewed plum brandy, some coffee, cheese from the farm, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, bread and grilled meat.

At the precise moment you think 'I could get use to this' everyone vanishes and you will be told to wash the dishes and put them all away - and that there is no hot water and the cold water we do have comes directly from a well so both needs to be used sparingly and replaces afterwards.

Grandpa will then retreat to his customary place by the stove or on a sunny day, by his little table, grandma will be off with the cow, and the buzz of a rather powerful chain saw will tell the world your father n law is having fun!

Don't complain however as out of that kitchen will come amazing amounts of food, beautifully prepared - all with your name written on the underside of the plates reminding you to get ready again to wash up.

And if you don't like Romanian food - you can get British food sent to you. I just miss real British beer! So perhaps I will investigate it one day! What do you think of Romanian food?

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