Gypsy Food Is Hard to Pin Down

Published on Wednesday, February 3, 2010, by Sarah Perry / Edit Post

Is there a cuisine of the Gypsies, more properly known as Roma or Romani? ("Roma are one subset of the Romani people," says luckyfatima.)

"There are a couple of Gypsy cookbooks in print, but both have been criticized heavily for failing to enunciate a distinct Gypsy cuisine," says Perilagu Khan. "Is such an endeavor possible? ... Do we know of any dishes that have persisted among Gypsies down through the centuries and have been transported, almost without exception, to wherever Gypsies have put down roots?"

As part of their nomadic culture, Romani would have used locally available ingredients wherever they happened to be, rather than loyally purchased 'staples of any supposed Gypsy larder,'" says SusanaTheConqueress. "In other words, the cuisine of no cuisine of their own identity would be the identity of their cuisine."

This has implications for a certain preparation methods, though, at least. "Nomadic Roma have a style of cooking that is suited to nomadic life and is flexible and adaptable to the availability of a wide variety of ingredients," explains soupkitten. "Stews in which many different vegetables and/or meats and/or foraged herbs and mushrooms can be subbed in or out, bound by a black pepper or fried spice sauce would be one example."

"Being nomadic would probably mean having a totally different type of cuisine; I recall reading about things like roasted hedgehog and such—eating what was available for sustenance," says luckyfatima. "Since the vast majority of Roma are settled, the nomadic cuisine isn't necessarily relevant now."

Discuss: Is There a Gypsy (Roma) Cuisine?

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  • There are many different gypsies such as Romanian, Hungarian, Polish, Serbian, Spanish, Bulgarian, and American Gypsies. They all have different types of food recipes than other rom, their language is understandable to other Romany people, other gypsies speak different and pronounce Romany words slightly different....

    I am Gypsy and from speaking to my grandparents about our culture, they told...+READ

    There are many different gypsies such as Romanian, Hungarian, Polish, Serbian, Spanish, Bulgarian, and American Gypsies. They all have different types of food recipes than other rom, their language is understandable to other Romany people, other gypsies speak different and pronounce Romany words slightly different....

    I am Gypsy and from speaking to my grandparents about our culture, they told me that we are full gypsies not mixed with gadje. We have the most original Romano language and FOOD than any other Rom.

    I have met other rom like the Hungarians, Romanians, Serbians, and Polish. Their food is way different than ours. They have simillar foods like the stuffed cabbage rolls stuffed with beef/pork (called Takarterah) but very okay kinda taste. They taseted our way & they said it so much tastier..

    I am putting a Romano CookBook together with recipes that have been passed down from hundreds of years (that I know of)
    lots of Americans "gadje" have asked for the recipes such as the bean soup and wanted them canned or bottled to sell..

    Some of our foods - "Chepetki" (red vegetable soup with chicken or beef and homemade noodle that is pinched in small pieces, it can be soupy or thick cooked for 2 hrs) mouth watering!

    "Kumer" is homemade noodles cooked in chicken stock. Lots of rom still don't know how to make this.

    "Boratzi" Mushrooms & beef with paprika cooked for 2 hours

    Fried Bread "Bokoje" (Naan bread cannot compare)-COLLAPSE