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Romania’s landscape is dominated by the Carpathian Mountains and the mighty River Danube, with many smaller rivers carving their way through forests and hills to nourish fertile plains. This is a country of dairy, where creme fraiche is so thick you can slice it with a knife; of plums, which are turnedfruit butter or baked into pies; and of walnuts, used in many age-old dishes. It’s also a country of overlapping cultures. Culinary exchanges happened over centuries of tumultuous history, from the honey-sweetened cheese pies of the ancient Greeks and Romans, to the nutty halvas of the Ottomans and the rolled filo pastry strudel of the Habsburgs.