From Dill to Dracula is fantastic! I love the rich history, the wonderful recipes and the beautiful photos. My great-grandparents were from Romania and I have always been fascinated by the history (and of course the food)! This book truly is a fantastic read!

I found this cookbook delightful. Beautiful pictures, interesting recipes, and lots of folklore. It's fun to read and fun to look at. For me, this is a keeper.

An interesting little book with magnificent photos, From Dill to Dracula had me thinkibg about break-neck racing up the Carpathians in a black coach, full moon rising and wolves snapping at our heels. Obviously not at all what the author intended or even implied, but still, I find the mythology and legend of a place should never be forgotten, and lets be honest, Romania has storytelling down to a fine art.

The countryside is lovely, steeped in history, and the little titbits of info, heralded by a bat or herb, added a whimsical touch. The food however, is not really my cup of tea, and I think of all the recipes I enjoyed the bread and a few desserts the most.

But I'm sure it will appeal to many, especially people who have been brought up on this cuisine.
Many thanks for my ARC.

I picked this up because my partner and I were supposed to be going to Romania this year. Of course, with everything going on that didn't happen, but we wanted to see if we could replicate some tasty food in our home at least!

The unique aspect to this cook book is that it adds little discussions of Romanian folklore alongside the recipes. I'm a huge fan of folklore and myths so this was a great addition in my eyes!

As a vegetarian the book wasn't as useful as it could have been. I understand Romanian food has a big meat focus so it's not the authors fault, there's just a lot of recipes I can't make. However, the amount of bread and pasta makes up for that! My partner's really into baking so I was super excited to show them.

We haven't made the food in this book yet but it all looks amazing and high quality. Would definitely recommend this to people who are interested in Romanian cuisine!

(Thanks to NetGallery for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!)

I got hungry just looking at the cover, but having sat through a Romanian thanksgiving or two, that’s just what happens when I see some dolmas plated up.

While my in-laws have never referred to Romania as “the hidden gem of Eastern Europe” - not even in jest, they have always talked the good talk on the food. Also I’m gonna jump is on a cookbook with Dracula in the title.

I don’t think Romania has looked this inviting in ages, the photos and illustrations work in tandem to create a very alluring atmosphere making you want to get cookin.

Good recipes for that are new to this cuisine or returning home.

From Dill to Dracula: A Romanian Food & Folklore Cookbook by A.M. Ruggirello (5 Stars)

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

What a delight! The author’s introduction begins with a little personal background, moves on to Romania’s history and folklore, and then it’s time to cook! The book features beautiful photography of Romania as well as a full-page picture of each delicious recipe.

Romanian cuisine is based on typical Eastern European fare, think Turkish, Hungarian, Slavic, Austrian. Like other countries though, the use of herbs, spices and techniques make their recipes unique. There are heavenly breads, soups based on fresh and local ingredients, main courses to feed your soul, luscious desserts and unique cocktails to accompany your meals.

The great thing about these recipes is they are simple, and anyone can make them. Some might be a bit more labor-intensive than others, but the instructions are clear and concise. For the most part the ingredients are readily available, so there’s no reason not to be whipping up some of these recipes.

This is exactly the type of book I am always searching for. It combines my love of travel, history, culture, language and food. Beautiful pictures of the country, people and recipes. The recipes are straightforward with easy to find ingredients with recipes on their own pages. I honestly couldn't ask for more. Well done!

Loved this exploration of Romanian cuisine and culture. (Spoiler: there's more to it than dill and Dracula) Front matter features lots of context and folklore. Recipes range from soups to meat dishes to desserts and drinks. Something for everyone and very approachable recipes. Recipe intros are short and sweet with a distinct voice that makes it feel like someone is sitting next to you sharing family recipes.

I am about to go to work in Hungary, I fear it may be wall to wall goulash. I saw this book on Romanian food, a border neighbour to Hungary, and figured it could have some great recipe ideas for ingredients I will find locally. What I didn't expect was such a beautiful love letter to Romania.

The first part of the book introduces some traditions and folklore of Romania. Ashley was born in the USA, the child of Romanian immigrants. Longing to reconnect , Ashley wants to uncover the beauty of a country that is known for crippling oppression and a fictional Dracula. Amongst beautiful photography we learn about special days in the Romanian calendar, info on the flag and folk poems.

The second part deals with the food on offer - bread and soups, garden, meat, sweets and bottle. But there are still little extra nuggets of information, be it some Romanian words, folklore knowledge when you see the little bat symbol or food for thought to expand on taking advantage of the recipe. Don't you just love this book already?

Recipes I'm going to make include pretzels covered in salt and poppyseeds; potato pasta with bread and sugar - a family recipe called noodlies; spinach with bacon and garlic; courgette with dill and cream; egg chicken; deconstructed cabbage rolls and I can't even tell you how amazing the sweets look.

Finally we have grocery resources with an English and Romanian index.

As you can tell, I fell a little bit in love with this book and its author. There's something so personal that leaps from the page.. I'm giving it 5 stars, and although I had a temporary virtual copy to review, I'm pre-ordering the hard copy now. Thank you for sharing your love letter with us.

When I saw this book on Netgalley, I knew I needed to read it. Recipes and folklore from my Romanian heritage? Sign me up! This was so much more than a cookbook - Ruggirello included tidbits about various Romanian holidays and superstitions, gorgeous photographs of castles and countryside, personal anecdotes about the recipes, even a little language and pronunciation information. I can't wait to make some of these dishes - especially the ones that my Mom pointed out when she was flipping through the book as ones that her grandmother used to make.

I started the quarantine lock-down period binge-watching Castlevania, so as soon as this book showed up for request, I pounced on it like a vampire on an unsuspecting blood source. So, I'm not sure about the lore interspersed within the book, it was interesting enough, but I've also seen reviews that say that it's not very authentic. It didn't matter. I have a couple of recipes I want to try, but I did make the roasted garlic soup (because how could I not), and since the whole family liked it, we are calling it "vampire soup" and are going to make it a part of our soup meal rotation. For me the book was worth it for the soup alone.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

It is great to see a Romanian recipe book on the market! Very nice pictures, but I don't like the cover pic, it is not inviting me to buy this book. The recipes look great with not thousands of things you need. Great for a beginner cooking Romanian food.

Normally I wait until I've had a chance to try some of the recipes in a cookbook before writing a review, but I have to say that I am so charmed by the overall idea of this book that I just absolutely adore it!

I know nothing about Romanian food but the dishes here look rich and rustic, like comfort food you crave during fall and winter days.

And I love the blend of folklore and history throughout.

This is one I want to have a physical copy of for my own collection and I really can't wait until the weather is cooler and I can dive into these dishes!

Not too familiar with Romanian cuisine so it was very interesting to dive into the culture and food here. Beautiful book. Not sure the recipes grabbed me though.

**I received an e-ARC from NetGalley for an honest review**

I loved the intro with the history and folklore of Romania. The pictures were beautifully done. The transition into cookbook was seamless, and the actual setup of the cookbook was really well done.

While the recipes were reminiscent of a lot of other Eastern European cultures, they are still individualistic enough that I would buy this book in a heartbeat. Most of the recipes would be perfect for people living on a budget or in a colder climate- lots of meat and potato based dishes. I've already started making pickles from the recipe in the book, and I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Overall, 5/5 stars for an amazing virtual trip through Romania.

In this cookbook, the author takes readers on a journey into Romanian culture. The recipes are accompanied by vibrant photographs of the dishes. Folklore throughout the book will have you reading cover to cover.

The font on this book is awful, it actually gave me a headache to read it, so much so that I haven't finished reading. I never even got to the recipes. The font might look better when it's in a physical printed book but for digital use, I would not recommend it.

This is a cookbook, but also a love letter from the author to the country of her parents and her ancestors – and to its food! It made me desperately crave “savarine”, the Romanian answer to rum baba, and reminded me to try my hand again at “lășcuțe”, an easy and rewarding fresh pasta recipe.

The first section introduces the reader to some elements of Romanian history and folklore, some of which are representative, some of which are sensationalist. The main body consists of recipes, preceded by a presentation of ingredients and peppered with comments on language, folklore and recipe versatility. All recipes are illustrated and the book also comprises several images from different parts of Romania.

All in all, leaving aside the clickbaity Dracula references, the premise of the book – and part of its execution! – are interesting, even though I regret the author limits her audience by aiming at the American public only. But there are many problems, too. The book is badly in need of editing and proofreading and (full disclosure: Romanian here!) preferably by a native Romanian speaker as well. There are spelling errors already in the table of contents, many typos in the (English) text, and inconsistencies in term use. Romanian diacritics are sometimes used, sometimes skipped, sometimes mixed with Hungarian ones. Some recipe names are translated verbatim… from English to Romanian! Most irritating is the often-mentioned country bread, “țară pâine”, which makes no sense in Romanian – “pâine de casă” or “pâine ca la țară” would be correct. Cream horns are described as “cremă coarne” instead of “rulouri/cornete cu frișcă”, rum balls are “minge de rum” instead of “biluțe cu rom”. Grated egg noodles are “ouă de orz”, which I have never heard in Romanian. “Castraveți murături”, a type of fermented pickle, are indeed a type of „murături” (pickles), but they are called either “castraveți murați” or, more accurately, “castraveți covăsiți”. I could go on.

Substance-wise, the bits of Romanian history in the beginning are occasionally wildly inaccurate. We are told Moldova and Wallachia united with Romania proper in 1859, when in fact Moldova and Wallachia united in 1859 and Transylvania joined in 1918. Recipes are presented as Romanian, but in fact the great majority are Transylvanian. Most recipes are good, but some miss the flavor profile specific to the dish. “Mititei” stand apart from other Balkan versions of grilled meatballs because they are made with baking soda, which the recipe here omits, but they never include hot paprika and cumin, both listed. The bean dip “fasole bătută” almost always includes a roux, not included in the recipe here, but never, in my experience, the listed cumin. In fact, I suspect the author confuses caraway, often used in the Romanian cuisine (especially in Banat and Transylvania), with cumin. Same look, very different taste! All of these distract a lot from what could otherwise be a pleasant and evocative reading and invitation to cooking.

I really enjoyed learning about Romania through this book! The included recipes offer a taste of Romanian cuisine and are accompanied by photos for each once - a nice touch many cookbooks lack! This is especially helpful when the reader isn't familiar with the food. While many recipes aren't appealing to me as a vegan, even I found some I'll be trying out soon.

Thank you to Cardboard Monet Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Potentially a good gift to anyone else with connections to Romania, or a souvenir having gone, this colourful guide to the place is only 80% recipe. We start with some (quite awkwardly written) bits and blobs about the place's folklore, and that there Dracula bloke, who is never really allowed to leave these pages. We then get on with the recipes, and find immediately it's an American book, all cup this and cup that. Luckily, of course, you seldom get an ingredient that is USA-only, although the rest of the world would struggle with a couple of references here, like Ulker tea biscuits, and 'heavy cream' is certainly not British. It's set out the obvious way, with soups and stews leading to home-grown options, mains, desserts and baking, and so on. The full-page photos of each dish, it has to be said, are really quite appealing (although one chocolate cake looks surprisingly pink here). More importantly, the recipes seem to have a clarity and simplicity to them, so I can be sure to have tried a few of these within a few weeks. I certainly didn't object to what I ate while in Romania, so the chance to get some equivalent out of my own kitchen is welcome. I think there might be more encyclopaedic looks at the country's cuisine, but this is a highly pictorial, and very warm-hearted, sampler.