The following are strictly personal views/observations and in no way reflect the views of the Peace Corp nor the federal government of the United States.

In Moldova there are several dishes that are on par with pickled pigs’ feet and pickled eggs as far as dietary offensiveness. The first dish I ran into was rachatoare, which is meat jello. Typically the meat flavor is chicken; however, this jello can be made from any type of meat imaginable, pig, rabbit, fish, the sky is the limit. From what I understand, they boil the meat so long that the marrow comes out of the bones. That dissolved marrow that is what achieves the jello consistency when chilled. The flavor comes from the boiled meat broth. Rachatoare tastes like salty, with a slightly detectable meat flavor. The consistency is cold and jiggley with small particles of bone, quite the unique combination of qualities.

The next dish I came across, which I found fairly unpleasant is pig skin. I know that in America we also eat pig skin, but that pig skin is fried and then consumed, but I am not a fan of pork rinds either. In Moldova instead of frying the skin they boil it. It is then served cold in long strips, which allows for the pores to be visible. The preferred method for eating a strip of pig skin is to take the skin and put salt on the side with the visible subcutaneous fat, then roll the skin up with the pore side out and eat.

I tried this dish as well, for the sake of being open to new cultural experiences, and I immediately regretted putting it in my mouth. Consumption of a pig skin requires a significant amount of gnawing because it is rubbery. Pig skin is mostly flavorless except for the salt; however, it is oily. It is so oily that it coats your lips. In my estimation the consumption of pig skin is an act that a practicing Jew would find truly offensive.

These are two Moldovan foods that I unfalteringly bypass when they come my way at.