D.L. Stewart exclusive: Pigging out is popular in Romania

As a rule, I’m not a particularly picky eater. I’ve chewed chitlins in Dayton, sampled snake bile soup in China and survived, just barely, haggis in Scotland.

Still, dining in an unfamiliar culture can be problematic.

Here in Transilvania, for instance, my son and I are going to need to decide which part of the pig to eat this evening.

Porcine products are prevalent in Romanian restaurants, except for the vegan ones. At virtually every other one, your choices are pretty much narrowed down to a pig’s loins, ribs, chops, necks or knuckles. Or brains. Romania may be the brainiest country on earth. Last night we ate at a highly-rated Italian restaurant that served a crostini misti appetizer of liver pate, salmon and brains.

Tonight we’re looking for more traditional Romanian fare. One option is a place known for its Shepard’s Bag, which is a pork cutlet wrapped around ham and sausage in a cheese sauce. But rather than spend the rest of our trip listening to our arteries harden, we’re leaning toward Restaurant Crama Sibiana, which allegedly has a terrific soup that’s served in a loaf of bread.

But that sounds messy, so maybe we’ll start with the Platou Rece Rustic appetizer, which includes head cheese, fermented ewes’ milk cheese, smoked sausage, spicy sausage and sausage made from pig offal.

If our hearts still are pumping after that, we could progress to Snitzel de Porc umplut cu Creier, which the menu describes as “pork escalope stuffed with pig brain.”

Or maybe we’ll skip eating out altogether, just call Tutti-Pizza and order their Dracula pie.

I’m not sure what’s in that, but it might be something we can sink our teeth into.

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