Food Power

The Czech and Moravian traditional cuisine is solid, rich and tasty. You can find it on menu cards in a broad network of restaurants and pubs, wine-rooms and beer houses. People now prefer light meals with plenty of fresh vegetables, but the typical national meal of roast port and sweet-and-sour cabbage with dumplings (typical Czech meal “knedlik”). Roast duck, game meals and sweet dumplings filled with fruit are very popular too. Various types of sauces form part of Czech cuisine. Roast sirloin in cream sauce and dumplings is the most popular.

Czech beer is a real national treasure. Beer is brewed according to ancient recipes and from excellent domestic raw materials in tens of breweries. No wonder the Czechs are the most apt consumers of beer in the world. Czech and Moravian winders, especially white wines, are very good too. South Moravia is a famous Weber’s region - various winery programs make visitors familiar with wine, wine cellars, as well as cultural monuments, the last living folk traditions and hospitality of Moravian people.

Try:

1. Prague Food Festival
2. Pilsner Fest in Plzen
3. Palava Vintage; wine holidays at Mikulov in South Moravia
4. Slovacko Festival of Wine and Open Monuments; a representative ethnographic festival of towns and villages from the region of Slovacko at Uherske Hradiste
5. Znojmo Historical Vintage; a festival of wine in costume

After chatting with some friends that were from the CR I had learned that just like here, there is a belief that some food provides powerful benefits / important meanings.

Apples: If an apple is given to goats on Christmas Eve, it is believed that their milk will be sweet.

Garlic: Garlic is rarely missing from any Christmas dinner as it is believed to provide strength and protection. Often, a bowl of garlic is simply placed beneath the dining room table.

Honey: A pot of honey is usually placed on the dinner table, believed to guard against evil.

Mushrooms: Mushrooms, thought to give health and strength, are used in a traditional meal called kuba, prepared from dried mushrooms, barley, garlic, onions, and spices. Mushroom soup is often served as an appetizer before dinner.

Sheaf of Grain: A bundle of grain, dipped in holy water, is often used to sprinkle the house to prevent it from catching fire in the coming year.

Poppy seeds, Peas, Wheat, and Barley: These grains are fed to hens on Christmas Eve to promote abundant eggs in the coming year.

Vánočka or Christmas Bread: If this bread is fed to family cattle on Christmas Eve, it is believed that there will be ample milk in the new year. Putting a few vánočka crumbs in front of bee hives will promote abundant honey.