One of the most famous dishes in Europe (or should I say Balkan) had its festival this weekend at Parajd (Praid). The place is knows to many worldwide, but not for the stuffed cabbage, but for the salt mine, that had been serving as one of the most amazing tourist attraction of Transylvania, till last year, when a flood that could have been prevented, destroyed it completely. Back when it happened, I posted about it as it hurt not just those who's livelihood was washed away in a couple of days, but also millions of families, who used to visit the mine to treat their kids suffering from various types of respiratory diseases, but this is a story for another day.
So this weekend Parajd attracted hundreds of stuffed cabbage lovers and offered them not only a fantastic culinary experience, but different cultural events as well, among which concerts, award ceremonies and so on.
This is a tradition already as this year's stuffed cabbage festival is the 29th and not the last one as it's going to be carried out each year. For me, this was the first one and truly hope not the last one, for the obvious reasons.
We drove there, it is easily accessible from several directions and I suppose you can ride the bus as well. Entry is free for everyone, which is a great thing.
Once you're there, the autumn mood starts at the entrance, where the traditional wooden gate was decorated with handmade baskets, straw hats, dry flowers and wheat.
For me, such a decoration worth everything as it shows the intentions and creativity of the organizers.
You can't miss the place as the smell in the air can be noticed from far.
Once you step inside the gate, the smell becomes reality and is coupled with images you can hardly resist.
For those of you who are not familiar with what stuffed cabbage is, please read the following description:
Filled cabbage, either under its name in the Great Plains, is a stem or one of the typical winter dishes of Hungarian cuisine is covered in Transylvania. You can also find among the Romanian dishes sarmalesarmale (from the Turkish word sarmak, 'betakar', 'envelop') or with a diminutive trainer called sărmăluțe, but in the Transylvanian Saxons it was also the main catch of the old guild holidays and the neighbourhood days. Its name is in parts of Hungary (especially in South-East Hungary). The Serbs call it the Sarmá. The cabbage stuffed with wormwood (gelling ram) is also considered part of their national cuisine by the Arabs. In Sweden it is known as kåldolme. It is also called the cover in the Great Plains. In Moldova, Bukovina, the name of the stuffed cabbage is geluska, dumplings, the word in this report here Romanian rental. Various variants of stuffed cabbage are also known in Turkish, Russian and some Asian cuisines.
They say that every household has its own customs, and this is true for recipes as well. Each region has its own recipe and the variety of stuffed cabbage available is endless. However, this festival is not a huge one, so there were only three types here, but they had other offers as well.
This is the so called sheep curd puliszka, which translates into mămăligă in Romanian, but most people know as polenta, which is the Italian version and more popular than ours.
The real stuffed cabbage is made in cauldron, heated with wood and they had these stoves set up. It was nice to see them respecting tradition, the disadvantage of it was the smoke though. My hair and clothes smelled like smoke all day :)
This was the second place selling stuffed cabbage, but for some reason, there was no one wanting to buy. It was around noon truth to be told, most likely it was still early.
This was the third place and as soon as I spotted it, knew this is where I'm going to buy my stuffed cabbage, or cabbage rolls. They say the food is the best, where the line is the longest and this was that place.
... aaand here it is, my stuffed cabbage, with sour cream. It's not exactly diet food, but once a year it's ok to have some at a festival.
After enjoying this yummy dish, I went back to ask the guy how they make it. It was more like teasing as I knew the answer already, or should I say I knew he's not going to reveal his secret and was right. He was diplomatic and said they make it with love and dedication 😆 Fair enough.
After eating, we met the two cabbage guys and both were kind enough to stop for a photo. I was wondering what they are paid to parade for a few hours wearing those costumes.
Food was not the only offer, they had some lovely autumn decorations that made me smile. I just hope that one day I'll have the chance, or a reason, to create my own seasonal decorations and explore my creativity.
Oh, I almost forgot, I had an ice cream as well. This time I chose stracciatella and raspberry and it was heavenly good.
This is a monument dedicated to both civilians and soldiers who died in the 1st World War, between 1914 and 1918.
This is the reformed christian church of the village.
This is the Sándor Petőfi cultural center, bearing the name of the most famous Hungarian poet, who went missing during the Hungarian Revolution in 1848.
It was a fun day and if you have the occasion to attend in the upcoming years, don't hesitate.
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