Preferences. Preferences definitely change from person to
person. But some preferences are
cultural or local to a geographic area.
I have noted some preferences among people in Moldova.
People
definitely prefer to drink wine at home as compared to beer. Most people make their own homemade
wine. Wine is easily the national
drink. People do like to take a beer at
a restaurant. It is not uncommon to see
people enjoying a draft of beer at a restaurant even in the morning. When it comes to coffee or tea, Moldovans
seem to favor tea. Not that coffee
isn’t available or preferred by some people, but tea is more frequently asked
for. However, I have never seen a
Moldovan drink iced tea. In general,
Moldovans do not like cold drinks. I am
sure that they think it causes sore throats and colds. Cold beer does seem to be an exception to
this rule. Drinking beverages is
normally something done after or between meals.
Moldovans do not drink water or juice or coffee or tea while they are eating. After the meal they may have coffee or
tea. The one exception here is when wine
is served with the meal.
Moldovans
prefer to drink wine out of one glass.
That’s one glass for everyone at the table. It is a custom of hospitality to bring a pitcher
of wine out from the “beci” or cellar.
The host fills a shot glass or juice sized glass with wine and offers it
to each person, one at a time. The guest
takes the glass and makes a toast, for example: “Noroc! Multi Ani, multi bani, fara dusman.” “Good luck, many years, much money, and no
enemies.” Then the person drinks the
entire glass of wine in one gulp. The
host then takes the glass, refills it, and passes it to the next person. During a meal this may happen two or three
times. Much of the home made wine in
Moldova is put into recycled plastic liter bottles from either bottled water or
soda.
Closed
windows or open windows? Again, I seem
to be opposite the Moldovan standard on this.
When riding in an auto or bus, keep the windows closed. Even in crowded rutieras on hot sweltering
days, don’t open a vent or window to let air in. The draft or “current” will make you
sick. If Moldovans are sitting in a room
and they experience a breeze, they will shut the window or door that caused the
“current” to flow. However, on cold days
in Fall or Spring, when the heating system is not operating yet, the tendency
is to open the windows wide to let fresh (cold) air into your building. The dread of “current” expresses itself in
the clothing of small infants and children.
In my eyes they seem overdressed for the season, but to Moldovan
mother’s, it’s what is needed. The head
of the young child is especially kept under warm hats that cover the ears. Little babies are in snow suits and blankets.
Preferences
in food of course are expected. Some
differences I note are that Moldovans like their larger meal to be at noon and
a smaller meal for evening. This usually
means that for lunch you have some type of hearty bowl of soup and some meat
and bread and perhaps a salad, or a dill pickle, maybe even some potatoes or
pasta. At supper, you may have
something simple like placinta, or tuna and noodles, or coltunasi, or fried fish and potatoes, mamaliga with brinza
or souse. Desert? Probably not.
Now and then the candy dish comes out or at times there are some
cookies. Breakfast foods can vary
greatly. There are many types of hot
cereal, also macaroni cooked in milk, just tea and biscuits, a butter sandwich,
or anything that was leftover from yesterday’s meals. Fruit?
When in season. There’s a time of
year when apricots, cherries, apples, watermelon, and grapes are in
season. Then you enjoy them. What is most absent are exotic fruits (these
are one’s that don’t grow in your backyard).
These include oranges, bananas, kiwi, pineapple. At Christmas time or Easter time, the big
treat is to buy some manadrini for the table.
No comments:
Post a Comment