The Monday Issue (1)

This is Romania. Eastern Europe and Balkan vibes. In a world full of people that hate Mondays, be the one who subscribes to The Monday Issue.

Not long ago, I started writing a Substack in Romanian, and it seems to be going quite well. That encouraged me to launch one in English too, hoping it might serve the expat community living in Bucharest — and also the tourists who arrive in, or dream of visiting, Romania’s capital first, and then other parts of the country I know well enough to describe properly.

Besides my lists of restaurants I enjoy eating at, or things worth trying if you want to get a sense of Romanian culture — especially through a culinary or gastronomic lens — you’ll also find here longer or shorter texts on current food-related topics, my perspective on culinary trends that catch my eye, excerpts from the books I’ve published over the years, and other things I feel are worth writing about.

Back in 2007, I started a food blog and wrote on it every single day until 2014, when the writing was taken over by interns who rotate once a year. I must have missed the act of writing itself — otherwise, why would I return to what I was doing in 2007? Still, I don’t intend to go back to the blog; the arrangement with the interns works beautifully, and if I’ve learned anything in (almost) fifty years, it’s this: if it works, don’t fix it.