Nicolae's books about Romania

Taste of Romania now in Papeback

2011-04-07T18:05:00.000+01:00

Taste of Romania has now had an incredible record of success. After 14 years as a hard cover book it has had 2 editions and 4 re-prints. Now, its publishers, Hippocrene Books, New York, have published an updated version in paperback. Check my website for details on how to buy it.

Taste of Romania - Live Radio Interview

2010-04-02T21:14:00.005+01:00

Sunday, March 21, at 3:20 PM Eastern Daylight Saving Time, I was interviewed live, via telephone line, direct from Edinburgh, Scotland.
The interview lasted 40 minutes, on Pierre Wolfe's program America's Dining and Travel, which is broadcast over the Business Talk Network, every Sunday afternoon from 3 PM to 5 PM.

It was a fun experience for me, and I want to thank all of you out there who tuned in and those who sent me some very complimentary e-mails.

Click here to download the radio inteview in MP3 format

Visit my website

Romania: An Illustrated History now in China

2010-04-02T20:57:00.001+01:00

Great News! My publishers, Hippocrene Books, New York, have just signed a contract with a Chinese publisher, who will publish Romania: An Illustrated History in China.
I'm told that many Chinese students are sent to Romanian universities which are considered as some of the best in Europe. I expect that it will be the main market for the book, in addition to potential tourists.

Praise from amazon.com readers

2008-07-12T03:56:00.004+01:00

AMAZING!
When a friend suggested I check out my own book, Taste of Romania,at www.amazon.com, I was astonished to find so many wonderful ***** comments. A big thank you to all of you for taking the time to write in.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent cookbook, September 21, 2002
By Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews

This book is an all-around great cookbook. To be honest, I had never heard of Romanian cuisine before and picked up the book on a whim. I'm glad I did because the book introduced me to a delicious culture that I had never sampled before. The recipes in the book are grouped into the following chapters: appetizers, salads, egg dishes, soups, polenta, fish dishes, meat dishes, poultry dishes, vegetable dishes, dumplings, sauces, desserts, wines, preserves, and Jewish dishes. I found good recipes in each chapter, some fancy, and some that can be whipped up in minutes. Interspersed throughout the book are short history lessons about Romania, fairy tales, and poetry, as well as Klepper's comments explaining the cooking culture. The book also includes a bibliography, a place and personal name index, and English recipe index, a Romanian recipe index, a brief pronunciation guide, an English-Romanian-French food dictionary, and even an American-British food dictionary (surprisingly useful!). If you're looking for a Romanian cookbook, this is a great one. And if you're just looking for some interesting and tasty new recipes, you'll find some here. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Read it from cover to cover !, December 27, 2000
By C. Naor "rtystyk" (USA) - See all my reviews

This is the cookbook to read from cover to cover for its wonderful content. The stories, poems and bits of culture repolish the tarnished image that Romania has aquired from the media... As a Romanian born American, I've been waiting for a book like this for years to share with my American born children and friends. There is no question regarding the authenticity of the recipies, and delicious results are almost guaranteed due to the "user friendly" format. I cannot praise this book enough, I just wish I can thank the author in person. The expanded edition that I purchased also has a delightful chapter on Romanian Jewish cooking. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Great cookbook, October 2, 2007
By Emmly (Midwest) - See all my reviews

This is a fantastic book. So many of the recipes I remember from my mother's and grandmother's cooking. It's also nice to get a little bit of a history lesson, along with Romanian poems and folktales. I purchased it for my daughter and sons. Since I left Romania at 15 (over 18 years ago), it's nice to remember some of the Romanian cooking I grew up with.
Now, if I could only get my American husband to try some of the recipes, that would be a victory indeed. :o) Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Amazing book!!!!, January 10, 2007
By Ana H. Ward - See all my reviews

I am Romanian and have lived in the US for just a short time. I got this book as a Christmas gift for my mother in law who is American. She loved it and wants to try cooking some of the recipes in there!!! It has great traditional recipes and some history lessons to help a novice understand Romanian culture. I was so happy to find the book on amazon and I recommend it to anyone who wants to explore Romanian culture. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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The ten year success story of Taste of Romania

2008-06-25T09:27:00.021+01:00

My first book, Taste of Romania, Its Cookery and Glimpses of Its History, Folklore, Art, Literature, and Poetry was published as a hardcover book in 1997, and has been selling successfully for the past ten years. An expanded edition was issued in 1999, and three other reprints were run since then.

Ten years have passed since its publication. It is with great pride and joy that I look back at the success this book has enjoyed, and want to thank all of those readers who took a chance in buying a copy for themselves or as a gift.

Following are a few memorable flashbacks:

On May 6th 1997, shortly after publication of Taste of Romania, a book-signing event was held at the prestigious Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City. The chef of the Romanian Ambassador to the United Nations prepared a variety of Romanian dishes for the occasion, and Romanian wine was served to the crowd which showed up for the event.

In the following weeks, a book-signing event at the residence of the Romanian Ambassador in Washington DC drew a large number of distinguished guests, and proceeds from the sale of books went to a Romanian-American charity.

On October 1st, 1997, a book-signing event was held at James Thin, the well-know Scottish booksellers in Edinburgh (which have since been taken over by Blackwell Bookstores)

Among the many favorable reviews of Taste of Romania, the most precious for me appeared in the prestigious gastronomy magazine Saveur, It was written by Colman Andrews, Editor of the magazine. The recipe which he chose to include with the article is of Mititei (Small Ground Beef Sausages), one of the most popular of Romanian dishes.

Below are excerpts from the article as well as the recipe.

"ON MY FIRST night in Bucharest, in 1972, a Romanian history professor I’d known at UCLA took me to the local university club, where we dined on cold marinated carp...and the delicious little sausages known as mititei (“the wee ones”) and talked politics...Nicolae Klepper’s recipes make a (good) case for his nation’s cuisine. Few American cooks are likely to essay his lamb “haggis” (a garlic-spiked ‘pâté’ of sheep offal baked in a lamb paunch – traditional at Easter time in Romania), but dishes like a creamy cauliflower soup, sour cream-enriched mămăligă (the Romanian polenta), lamb stewed with sauerkraut juice and scallions, and mititei (exactly like the ones I tasted long ago in Bucharest) are simple and appealing.
Romanian cooking, notes Klepper, has Turkish influences...but also contributions from the Romans, the Gypsies (who brought with them their skills of grilling meat over charcoal), the Greeks, Russians, Germans, and Hungarians...I don’t know what food is like in Romania today, but Klepper paints a pretty picture of his native country’s culinary possibilities".

Click on the image for larger version.