Considérations sur l’alimentation des habitants des Principautés Roumaines dans la vision des consuls et des voyageurs fran ais de la période d’avant 1848

The French influence in the Romanian Principalities was not exercised only by French secretaries and tutors. The travelers and consuls, who came into contact with the Romanians and their living space in the period before the revolution of 1848, noted the striking differences between ordinary people’s and boyar’s food. French guests also observed Turkish influences in the area of Wallachian and Moldavian cuisine: in the menus from the aristocratic courts were introduced by Greek chain Turkish foods. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century, the cuisine from the Principalities will also record Western influences, particularly French. At the boyar meals, they consumed local wines, but also expensive wines brought from Western Europe (Madeira, French), and stronger drinks such as brandy or rum. Peasants subsisted on products produced most often in their household.