From “mezelic” to brunch

Traditional Romanian brunch starter recipes.

Ștefan Baciu, 30.06.2019, 13:58

The tourism packages aimed at those
who want to get to know old traditions and customs in Romanian villages contain
all kinds of local and regional preparations. However, just as the language has
taken in loan words, mainly from English, to designate newly appeared notions
in tourism, so the menus have started including the term brunch. It is a
combination of the words breakfast and lunch, and it includes a combination of
hot and cold items. Also, as opposed to breakfast, alcoholic beverages may be
served during brunch.

Something similar to brunch used to be traditional in villages,
especially when entertaining guests. Such a serving of snacks was called mizilic, or mezelic. Also, the mizilic
was the first dish at weddings and baptisms. The word also gained the meaning
of a small thing or deed, a trifle.

Getting back to its proper meaning,
the mizilic of yore and the brunch of
today is a platter with one or several kinds of cheese, green onion or regular
onion cut into quarters, small meatballs, fatback, pastrami, salami, slices of
smoked sausage, as well as tomatoes cut into wedges, and slices of green or red
pepper. At noblemen’s tables, in the past, you could usually find more
elaborate preparations in addition, such as chicken meat rolls, deviled eggs,
and meat in aspic.

One of these more elaborate recipes has an interesting snack, where the
cheese is displayed in various colours. Take on kg of feta cheese, which we mix
with 200 g of butter. Mix in some finely chopped fresh dill, and shape it into
small green balls. By chopping finely some red pepper, we can make red coloured
balls of cheese. You can also enhance the colour using paprika. The white,
green, and red cheese balls will brighten your snack platter a lot. Enjoy!