Czech cuisine: MEAT!

CUISINE. It is a significant part of a national culture and also of a social life. As the assignments pile up and we need to do something entertaining while procrastinating, we decided with my class-mates to go for meals together. Our journalism class is very multicultural, ranging from the locals to Americans, Spanish, Indian and Chinese, among others.

The mission took off last weekend in a Vietnamese restaurant and now it is a question where to go next. I do not intend to suggest a Czech pub, as I, firstly, like to explore new things (especially while being abroad) and there are still so many international dishes I have not tried. And secondly I am not a big fan of Czech cuisine myself (as I am a vegetarian) and I rarely eat Czech meals. However, having talked to my class-mates I realized that Czech cuisine is not very well-known. Let me briefly introduce it!

Czech cuisine might be considered heavy and emphasizes meat. The side dish is in most of the cases dumplings, either of rolls or potato. The most popular meal is called a ’candle sauce’ (svíčková) and consists of a piece of beef, cream sauce and roll dumplings. It is all accompanied by cranberries, which add to a dish both flavor and colour. When you order ‘’knedlo-vepřo-zelo”, which is another typical meal, you find on a plate potato dumplings – roasted pork – sauerkraut.

As you can understand from the description, Czech meals are quite filling. Despite that a soup – as filling as the main – comes before the main course over lunchtime. It is usually made of vegetables, for example potato, cabbage, lentil, pea, garlic or onion and for the meat lovers – a tripe soup is particularly popular.

Everything you eat is washed down by beer Czech people are very proud of. If you are in the south-eastern part of the republic, in Moravia, it can also be wine from a local vineyard.

Czech desserts do not lag behind the main meals. It does not take by surprise that one of them is, again, dumplings. The sweet version is made out of curd and filled with different kind of fruit, depending on the season and your preferences.

There is also the whole range of pies, cakes, tarts and pancakes, each having a different shape and filling and its specific Czech name – štrůdl, lívanec, bábovka, buchty, pudink, bublanina etc. (I have no idea how to translate these and I noticed that Czech restaurants face the same problem, which might be exciting? for tourists, as you never know what to expect).

If you are a vegetarian, sweets will definitely be your favourite. Unfortunately there is not much to choose from out of the mains for no meat eaters. However, the few that Czech cuisine offers, like a marinated or fried hermelín (a Czech version of Camembert cheese) or baked potatoes with vegetables, are also enjoyable.

If you want to try some of the traditional Czech meals, come to visit me to Prague. My mum is an amazing cook and she will make for you an unforgettable Czech experience!