We all can enjoy many food venues here in the area. There is Italian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Greek, Turkish, sushi, deep fried fish, take out, breakfast, pizza, gourmet, catered, dining-over-the-water, meat and potatoes, burgers, lobster and crab roll, and Hannaford variety of everything! Plenty of ice cream, homemade to imported. No fried bubble gum though!

But, what we are not so familiar with is home cooked food by citizens of another country, i.e., Romania. Our family, however, has had some experience with Romanian cuisine, because our son-in-law, Andrei, does share his family recipes along with generous background information about origins and evolutions of his dishes. It is a real treat when special thin pancakes, slathered in homemade jam, are prepared for breakfast. Or when delicious deserts creep into a final course of ideally seasoned meats. Andrei is not lacking in sweet tooth interests which he occasionally drops by for sampling.

Sooooooo, when a small group of Romanian “J1, Work and Travel” college students offered to create a community dinner at Southport General Store, we were in! And the display of home cooked traditional foods did not disappoint. I don’t know how many people attended the event but I think I’d be safe in guessing nearly 100 folks showed up. What was neat was that other area “J1” workers were invited to join the festivities and eat for free. I believe Andrei told me that 15 or so other Romanian students attended as well as some students from other countries. It was a grand show of support for our special crew at Southport General Store.

The Southport General Store individuals who helped to prepare foods are from different parts of Romania with a variety of college majors and course completion. Interestingly, our Andrei worked several years for CIEE in Portland helping to arrange placement for “Work and Travel” students. He even led trips to eastern Europe with prospective employers from Maine to meet with applicants. CIEE actually arranged for Andrei’s first tour here locally at Linekin Bay Resort which is how he met our daughter Morgan, some 13 years ago. 

The six international students who helped to prepare the Romanian Dinner are Paula, in her third consecutive year with us on Southport. She is a gifted artist who studies graphic design at her college. Her home in Romania is the city of Cluj; Oana, also from Cluj, studies law; Edina comes from Satu Mare, enrolled at her school for politics and International studies; Szabi is also from Satu Mare, enrolled in pharmacy and medical studies; Ramona’s home is Suceava and her course of study is IT; Bogdan lives in Suceava studying automotive engineering. On their program, the students can work only a little more here but have permission to travel around the U.S. for about a month before returning to Romania. Some will choose to return sooner to resume studies.

Of all the foods offered at the dinner, my favorite was called Saramale (cabbage rolls). I was reminded of my working with other miners at home in Pennsylvania whose eastern European ancestry provided delightful food surprises. At lunch or break time I would always cozy up to my best Polish friend Chick whose lunch bucket was a gift of surprise delicacies. Ultimately, Chick’s wife Jean would pack extra goodies knowing that I would be peeking over Chick’s shoulder for special treats, never to be disappointed!

Halupki (also a Ukrainian dish), cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef was “the bomb.”  In the words of our Romanian friends, they wished to make their foods just like their grandmother did, from scratch and by hand. Thank you for a wonderful sharing of your culture and your foods. All the best. Toate cele bune.