Bean soup - a peasant-style food

We started this food series to explain a bit of some of the most popular Romanian foods. Last week, we presented a weird one, Ciorba de burta. We will tone it down a bit this week, with a less exotic ingredient.

Ciorba de fasole means dry beans soup, and it is a type of sour soup that goes back to our less flourishing economical times. Beans are one of the few things that peasants could store for unlimited times, and this type of soup, though not very nourishing, could sustain them for a long time over the winter.

Even today, it is still a very common dish for long winters, and it is the one served on Romania's national day of December 1st.

If you are ever in Bucharest, try ordering one at Caru cu bere, one of our most popular restaurants in the Old Town. It will come served inside a bowl made of bread, and with a side of onions or chilies.