The Zămuri volume by Mircea Groza, two nominations for European awards

Volum "Zămuri - soups, soups and soups; Transylvanian recipes from old people" by Mircea Groza, published this summer by the GastroArt publishing house, is nominated in two categories at the Gurmand Awards 2023 - The best in the World.

The book of gastronomic stories and recipes is nominated in the "Food Heritage book" and "Eastern Europe book" categories. The winners will be announced at the end of November during a ten-day event. The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were established in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau. They reward the best food books, print or digital, as well as food TV.

We mention that this year, another cookbook written by a Romanian - Tava by Irina Georgescu won one of the most important profile awards - James Beard from the USA in the Baking category.

The Zămuri volume contains 182 soup/soup recipes, richly illustrated, collected over 40 years by Mircea Groza from the elders in the villages of Sălău. The recipes are written in the regional language, a phonetic transliteration, through which the author tries to preserve both the culinary heritage and the specifics of the area. The volume also benefits from a glossary with hundreds of explained terms.

Mircea Groza is one of the most famous collectors of old recipes from us, a culinary archaeologist and a mentor for many chefs. His work has been noted by local and central authorities, national and international chef associations and NGOs and he has been awarded dozens of excellence awards for his work.

The appearance of this volume was also possible thanks to the investment in research and the support of the search for the Romanian and local gastronomic identity of the partners: La Fântâna, Sarica Niculitel – Caii de la Letea, Carmangeria Moldovan, Restaurant Zama, Silvania Gourmet, Bistro de L'arte, Tenaris Silcotub, FT Shop, Association for Intercommunity Development Țara Silvaniei, Mecanica CD.

The book can be bought from almost all Cărturești bookstores in the country. You can check availability in the bookstore directly on the website Cărtureşti. In a few days it will reach the bookstores and the extension of the print run, taking into account that the first print run of 1500 copies is almost sold out.

The preface of the book is signed by Cătălin Ștefănescu followed by a letter from Grigore Leșe. The afterword belongs to Cosmin Dragomir and, on cover IV, Oana Coantă, Adi Hădean and Radu Dumitrescu recommend this volume. The photos and the concept of the covers belong to Răzvan A. Voiculescu.

 "I try, through these writings, to reproduce the local specificity in terms of local gastronomy, I would say more precisely, popular food. What is representative from this point of view is the happy combination of the recipes of at least four ethnicities - Romanians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Jews - and the habit of using certain ingredients, specific to some, habits taken over by all the others. There are many examples, the potatoes used especially by the Slovaks, the onions from the Crasna valley, especially in the neighboring villages of Pericei commune, forest mushrooms, the extensive orchards and vineyards whose fruits are increasingly used in the kitchen. For several years I have been publishing in various forms old recipes from my area. I offer them with love to those interested, I am contacted quite often for details but also to be told that many of my recipes are tried and become part of the menu of some families. There are also restaurants in the country that use my recipes, actually the old recipes of socacits. It seems that there is a real trend of returning to culinary traditions. More and more, a parallel is drawn between healthy food and traditional recipes. I notice with joy that in many competitions and gastronomic festivals, even in some television shows, there are more and more references to traditional cuisine. I firmly believe that Romania has a traditional cuisine", says Mircea Groza in the foreword.

The volume can be browsed here

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