The Lippovans' culinary inheritance - a trove of centuries-old recipes

The 2,000-strong Lippovan community that is mainly concentrated in the Pisc neighborhood of the eastern city of Braila has preserved for centuries not just the Christian, but also its culinary traditions untainted, passing down from one generation to the other tens of food recipes carrying a profound imprint of this community with Slavic roots.

Photo credit: (c) Bogdan BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Stepping into the Lipovan neighborhood of Braila takes one to a different world, and the words historian Nicolae Iorga spoke after he visited, around the turn of the 20th century, the then Pisc village, immediately come to mind: "And thus, in the age of cinemas and automobiles, thousands and thousands of people live in the surroundings of big cities which they avert with horror, keeping intact the tradition of communication with the saints and a selfless and naive love of people."

Having gained recognition for their passion for fishing, which in former times provided for their daily food, the Lippovans prepare to this day the fish according to old recipes devised by the anglers in the long days and nights spent on the banks of the Danube, in the ponds of Braila.

Few know that the folks of the Pisc village, which has meanwhile become a neighborhood of Braila city, used to sell fish as traveling marketers, driving their carts from village to village hundreds of kilometres around Braila. Sometimes, in the places where they would set camp they would cook some fish borsch in a cauldron hung above the fire on a tripod; the brew smelled so alluringly that passers-by would stop and ask to be allowed to taste the "marvel" that delighted their senses. "Once they got to taste the marvelous broth, they remained in love with the Lippovan fish borsch for...