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INSIGHT TAROM Prim\var\/Spring 2007 63<br />
Photo: Pierre Soissons<br />
Moldovi]a. Spiritualitate / Spirituality<br />
A JOURNEY ACROSS THE<br />
ROMANIAN NORTHWARD,<br />
FAR AWAY FROM SOUTH’S<br />
URBAN CLUSTERS, MIRACU-<br />
LOUSLY TURNS INTO A GO-<br />
BACK TO THE CHILDHOOD’S<br />
CHRISTMAS CAKE AROMA<br />
THAT IS STILL PRESERVED IN<br />
EVERYONE’S MIND...<br />
In any geography manual, or as<br />
a first observation of a guide<br />
for those who first step on its<br />
land, it should be written that Bucovina<br />
is a rich country, with rich<br />
people. Too common... What kind<br />
of richness are we talking about<br />
it’s another matter, but from the<br />
very beginning we should know<br />
that it comprises all the known<br />
forms, from the prosperity of the<br />
farmers and their farms and of the<br />
treasures living deep down, in the<br />
air and in the water, to the pure<br />
and complex tradition, to generosity,<br />
goodness of heart, sound<br />
spirit and humor.<br />
THE WINTER AND ITS<br />
SNOWS...<br />
When the backsides of the<br />
Obcine become heavy with whiteglittering<br />
snow, the steps and voices<br />
of the wanderers melt in it too.<br />
A procession of sledges comes<br />
down the road, the horses breathing<br />
loud and warmly, as their fairy<br />
tales ancestors once used to<br />
breathe out the braise they were<br />
craving for... “The passengers“,<br />
good-humored having just sailed<br />
through their first drink, plan with<br />
an abundance of decibels the feast<br />
that waits for them somewhere,<br />
nearby, under the sky which constantly<br />
changes blue and white. In<br />
the winter going by sledge “to the<br />
snows“, that is for a barbecue<br />
generously spiced with red wine<br />
and “tzuica“, and in the summer<br />
reaching a meadow by carriage,<br />
for the same noble and joy-bringing<br />
livelihood...<br />
And if you succeed in becoming<br />
the guest of one of those<br />
households of Bucovina people,<br />
“at he boarding house“ as they say<br />
nowadays, great challenge and<br />
danger will your figure face. For<br />
the hosts, the guest is no longer<br />
“the doctor“, “the professor“, the<br />
architect“, but simply a little older<br />
child whom you must please at all<br />
costs and whose whims they must<br />
satisfy, and even stir some new<br />
ones, unknown to urban dwellers.<br />
The “balmos“ - polenta boiled in<br />
sweet cream, the pork juicy meats,<br />
the sausages, the ham, the soup of<br />
Radautzi, like a gastronomic balm<br />
for mouth and stomach... Now,<br />
talking about that famous soup of<br />
Radautzi, many of its worshipers,<br />
charmed by its virtues and flavors,<br />
hurried to trace its gastronomic<br />
roots back to the banquets of the<br />
ancient age nobles or, who knows,<br />
maybe even to the court of Great<br />
Stephen himself. Cruel disappointment<br />
as the marvel is no<br />
older than a decade and it was invented<br />
by a proud housewife from<br />
the area. One way or another, its<br />
lack of experience (the soup’s!)<br />
means nothing in comparison with<br />
its symphony of taste sub- ®<br />
Casele Bucovinei stau coco]ate pe rotunjimile fertile<br />
The houses of Bucovina lay proudly poised on the fertile hills
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