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© 2007 Dan Perlman
Casa SaltShaker
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chef: Dan Perlman
Host: Henry Tapia
September 1, 2007
I knew nothing, truly nothing, about the nation-state of Transnistria, as it is known in English, or the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic as others know it. It’s a conflict which I’ve probably seen flash by in a news article at some point in the past, but for whatever reason, it made no impact. A bit of online reading reveals some relevance to “my” history - perhaps not personal, but, for example, Transnistria was where the Romanian concentration camps were setup that hundreds of thousands of Jews were sent to during WWII. And, to some extent, the right of any group of people to exist (or not) as an independent state echoes what has been happening in many parts of the world, time and again. I have no solid opinion on this particular conflict - it’s been 17 years since Transnistria declared its independence from Moldova, the declaration not in disupte, simply the recognition of the declaration. This thin strip of land that separates Moldova from the Ukraine operates as if it were an independent nation - with its own government, flag, coat of arms, constitution. The surrounding world just seems to regard this as a childish, albeit dangerous and historically costly, prank that will one day be resolved if they only wait for the Transnistrians to grow up. History, at least from my dim knowledge of the subject, suggests that that isn’t likely, and is probably a misguided viewpoint.
The only important question for us here at Casa SaltShaker, of course, in choosing to celebrate Transnistria’s declaration of independence at a distance, was “What do they eat for dinner?” The answer seems to be, pretty much whatever the Moldovans eat… and we set off to have ourselves a bit of an Eastern European supper.
Thoughts from some of our guests:
"Just wanted to thank you again for a fantastic dinner. I seem to have left my copy of the menu there. If you have a second, whenever, would it be possible to email me a copy of what we ate and the wine pairings too? There were two wines in particular that I pretty much have to find." - A.G.
"Thanks for an enjoyable evening." - J.A.
"thanks for the nice dinner. i liked your interpretation of the cuisine a lot. the strudel de champinones was amazing." - T.W.
