Sticking with former and present communist countries we headed to Moldova to do M. We chose Moldova because it was close to Ukraine and Andrew loves Eastern European (Mainly Ukrainian) food but we discovered it was nothing like what we thought it was. Instead the culture is a lot more closely related to Romania.

Moldova was part of the Bessarabia region for centuries and under Soviet rule was called Moldavia when it was it became an autonomous state. And Moldova did in fact do better economically under communist rule.  Still, this tiny country mostly surrounded by Ukraine is very cool and unique.

Interesting Facts

• It is the poorest and least visited country in Europe
• The Transnistria Region along the Ukrainian border became and autonomous region in 1997 because it wanted to continue communism
• It is home to the biggest wine cellar in the world
• It has the second most wine consumption in the world per capita behind Belarus

For more information on Moldova check out ourMoldova Slides

CUISINE

Moldovan cuisine is very much related to that of Romania. Many of the foods that we ate were mostly the same as Romania but there are variations to the dishes. The food is what you typically think as Eastern European also. Lots of grain and heavy dishes. They also drink a lot of wine except Mama and Dada thought beer would go better. But the food overall is pretty delicious.

Breakfast

Sfințișori – This is a delicious pastry filled with a walnut filling and topped with a zest flavored syrup and walnuts. It was delicious.

Dinner

Sarmale Recipe – Sarmale is basically a stuffed cabbage leaf filled with beef and rice. And unlike Romania it was baked in broth, not tomato sauce. It was amazing and I ate it for lunch the next day.

Mămăligă Recipe – This was included in R is for Romania but unlike the Romanian version this does not have feta cheese in it.

CULTURE

For the culture of Moldova we looked at Martisor’s Day which occurs on the first of March but festivities last until the tenth. It celebrates the end of winter and the begining of spring. On this day men offer flowers and Martisors to women.

So what is a Martisor? Besides being the name of the holiday it is also a red and white pin with a flower or symbol in the middle. It should be red and white and should be tied in a bow.

The tradition started with the Dacians and were originally black and white. White for the warmth of life being intertwined with black or death. The became red and white mostly influenced by valentines day. They are worn around one’s wrist or heart.

For more information go here:Martisor Info

So we made our own martisors and Eve even made three!

Next we are going back to Africa for N.