The first Transylvanian Gastronomic Festival due in Boros, Harghita

Chefs, entrepreneurs from the HoReCa industry, local producers and enthusiasts of traditional dishes and tastes gather between October 7 and 9 in Harghita county for an event designed to put Transylvanian cuisine on the international gastronomic map.

The “Taste of Transylvania” festival aims to start a new chapter in the Transylvanian culinary culture, to contribute to the rediscovery of the culinary traditions of the past, but also to promote the tastes, aromas and dishes that distinguish Transylvania from other regions of the country.

Last but not least, the event will attract to the Harghita area tourists interested in gastronomy and completely unique culinary experiences and will contribute to the development of this county, known both for its unique nature and landscapes in Romania, as well as for its absolutely delicious Szechuan dishes.

The festival will take place in one of the most beautiful destinations of Transylvania, the holiday village of Boros in Harghita, where tourists and participants also have accommodation options. Boros is made up of 14 restored traditional houses, which offer accommodation, event space and a unique experience for all participants. Here there is also a barn arranged for events, a covered terrace, a water mill and a special chapel, the village being the ideal choice for celebrating the gastronomic traditions of Transylvania.

The event is organized with the support of the Pro Economica Foundation and complements the efforts made by the association to connect small producers from the Transylvania area with hotel operators and to develop the “from farm to table” concept in Romania as well. “We need as many bridges as possible built between producers, tourist operators and consumers, which thus complete the whole concept “from the farm to the fork” and events like the Gastronomic Festival “Tastes of Transilvaniei” only serve to accustom Romanian and foreign tourists with the gastronomic wealth of Romania” declared Monika Kozma, Executive Director of the Pro Economica Foundation.

The festival represents the meeting point of five ethnic groups from the area of ​​Transylvania: Hungarians, Romanians, Saxons, Armenians and Jews who have lived here for several decades and who have made their own contribution to a diverse and complex gastronomy, so that, currently, the kitchen the Transylvanian has a well-defined identity.

The program of the Gastronomic Festival “Taste of Transylvania” will include traditions, demonstrations of skills specific to the region, but also the presence of local producers and their products. Thus, those present will discover, among other things, the art of fermented dishes (for example, the iconic Armenian-Transylvanian soup, Angadjabur, is based on a mixture of milk and fermented greens), different wild plants, special methods of bread preparation, but also the secrets of cooking on an open fire.

The concept of the festival also finds its inspiration in the book of Kövi Pál, a Hungarian immigrant, the former owner and director of the famous Four Seasons restaurant in New York and a main actor on the gastronomic scene in this metropolis for almost four decades: “Transylvanian Cuisine: History, Gastronomy, Legend, and Lore from Middle Europe’s Most Remarkable Region, over 300 Recipes” (1985).