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Bessarabian Foodways

Basarabia

Historical period

The land between the Prut and the Dniester as administered from 1812 to 1917 by the Russian Empire, from 1918 to 1940 by Romania, and thereafter divided. ⚠ BESSARABIA IS NOT THE MODERN REPUBLIC: it included the Budjak and the Danube mouths now in Ukraine’s Odesa region, and excluded Transnistria. Its kitchen is the most plural in the region — Moldovan, Ukrainian, Russian, Gagauz, Bulgarian, Jewish, German colonist and Roma at once.

Atlas — where and when

Communities and languages

Languages: Romanian

What is recorded

  • Bessarabia administered by the Russian Empire following annexation from the Ottoman-suzerain principality. documented
  • Bessarabia under Romanian administration. documented
  • Bessarabia as an administrative term from 1812 included the Budjak and the Danube mouths now in Ukraine and excluded the left bank of the Dniester. It is not coextensive with the modern Republic of Moldova and the two are not used interchangeably in this system. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • part of Principality of Moldavia Foodways documented

    The land between the Prut and Dniester was part of the principality before 1812; "Bessarabia" as a name for the whole of it is an imperial coinage.

  • related to Ukrainian Foodways documented

    The Budjak and the Danube mouths of historic Bessarabia are in Ukraine.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.