Often called Moldova's national dish, mămăligă is a staple in meals both ordinary and special. Made from cornmeal, mămăligă is very similar to the more well-known Italian polenta. As described on its Wikipedia page: ”Traditionally, mămăliga is cooked by boiling water, salt and cornmeal in a special-shaped cast iron pot called ceaun or tuci. When cooked peasant-style and used as a bread substitute, mămăliga is supposed to be much thicker than the regular Italian polenta to the point that it can be cut in slices, like bread. When cooked for other purposes, mămăligă can be much softer, sometimes almost to the consistency of porridge. Because mămăligă sticks to metal surfaces, it can be cut with a string into slices, and is eaten by holding it with the hand, just like bread would be. Mămăliga is often served with sour cream and cheese on the side (mămăliguţă cu brânză şi smântână) or crushed in a bowl of hot milk (mămăliguţă cu lapte). Sometimes slices of mămăligă are pan-fried in oil or in lard, the result being a sort of corn pone. Since mămăliga can be used as an alternate for bread in many Romanian and Moldovan dishes, there are quite a few which are either based on mămăligă, or include it as an ingredient or side dish.” Please enjoy another gallery of stolen photos from an image search: As a cultural treasure, mămăliga is featured in songs both traditional and modern. Any crafts that show a kitchen or table, mămăligă is bound to be shown. Mămăligă is a family name. Our town is very proud of the time a few years ago where a dance troupe performed on the now no longer running show Moldova's Got Talent: If you skip to about 7:45 in this video, you can see mămăligă as it is traditionally made. I've found other videos in English about how to make it (like this one), but none with the traditional pot or stirring sticks.
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Rebecca LehmanHealth Education volunteer serving at Boris Dînga Middle & High School in Criuleni, Moldova. Archives
May 2017
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