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[00:00:00] essential information and need. advice from the best
[00:00:03] specialists. Info Diaspora. How many
[00:00:07] Romanians, so many answers? On TVR International.
[00:00:43] Welcome back to Exclusively in Romania in 2027,
[00:00:47] Harghita will be a European gastronomic region. What does that mean?
[00:00:50] In principle, it means more tourists for perhaps one of the most beautiful counties
[00:00:54] in Romania. Of course, interested in food, but not only, there are
[00:00:58] many things to see, to learn, to... discover in Harghita, such as, for
[00:01:02] example, a superb Roman Catholic church in Ditrău, on
[00:01:06] our way to Călimănel. Why are we going to Călimănel? We will find out,
[00:01:10] but in Ditrău there is a cathedral that does not have this
[00:01:13] official title, but its dimensions would recommend it, which dominates
[00:01:16] the entire space in terms of size and importance between Miercurea Ciuc, Brașov and
[00:01:20] why not even Alba Iulia. We will stop there too. These roads
[00:01:24] take us in other directions, such as, for example,
[00:01:28] the beautiful commune of Tulgheș, where we meet
[00:01:32] Lăcrămioara Pop, a UNESCO Living Human Treasure with an
[00:01:35] impressive activity. She revived an ancestral
[00:01:38] instrument on the verge of extinction, the peasant drum,
[00:01:41] developed the Village Museum, which has reached several thousand
[00:01:44] heritage pieces, and managed to gather the children from
[00:01:48] the area into a folk ensemble that carries the story
[00:01:52] of the place further. But, also today we arrive in the
[00:01:56] Boroș valley to visit a workshop of Gordune.
[00:01:59] Gordune is very similar to the peasant drum, it is also a
[00:02:03] cello played with a stick, transformed
[00:02:06] into a rhythm instrument, only that it is specific to the Székelys and
[00:02:09] the Csángós. We see how a
[00:02:12] 5000 gordună is built and what differentiates it from the peasant drum, and there are many
[00:02:16] differences. And of course, since it is about a European
[00:02:19] gastronomic region, we will also be interested in gastronomy, and that's
[00:02:23] why we go to Călimănel, which is right next to Toplița, to see how, for
[00:02:27] example, a local gastronomic point run by mother
[00:02:31] and daughter Erji and Krina, respectively, works. And there we will also talk with Saubo Karoy, who
[00:02:34] is the executive director of Visit Harghita, the institution
[00:02:38] that managed to attract this
[00:02:41] status of European gastronomic region
[00:02:44] Harghita county, for example, let's say from for Harghita County. There we will taste, of course, a goulash that
[00:02:47] is not really from the place, more Hungarian than Székely, but the
[00:02:51] caraway soup is certainly Székely, so come with
[00:02:55] us.
[00:03:01] impressive dimensions, Surely it will receive about 40 restaurants from this area this
[00:03:03] distinction.
[00:03:07] The big bell can only be
[00:03:10] in big
[00:03:13] churches.
[00:03:17] They tune differently than we do,
[00:03:19] a bit at a much lower
[00:03:22] frequency.
[00:03:37] You know very well that the main pretext of the show is the fact that in
[00:03:40] 2027 Harghita county will be a European gastronomic region.
[00:03:43] This is no small thing, don't imagine that gastronomic tourism has no chances.
[00:03:47] On the contrary, I have the impression that it is on the rise, it is growing. With
[00:03:51] each passing day, more and more people want to know where others live,
[00:03:54] how others live, what others eat, what they value, what they
[00:03:58] love, what they don't love. eventually, but almost everyone
[00:04:01] loves food and it was said at one point that after a person eats, they are always
[00:04:05] better. Well, but they also have to
[00:04:09] go out into the world, don't eat something good, they also have to eat something specific. If you come to Harghita, respectively in the Toplița area,
[00:04:13] I recommend you go to Călimănel, to
[00:04:16] look for the local gastronomic point set up by Mrs. Ergi
[00:04:20] and run together by her with her
[00:04:23] daughter, because here things are cooked as you
[00:04:26] wish. From the traditional goulash that everyone associates
[00:04:30] with the Hungarian area, to, for example, caraway soup, which is a
[00:04:33] rarity, that's right, that's how it is.
[00:04:37] Well, and now, I see that you have prepared some ingredients, Mrs. Ergi,
[00:04:40] there, these are, yes, the ingredients for
[00:04:42] goulash. We don't have a specific recipe, our recipe is
[00:04:46] how we make it, with caraway,
[00:04:50] with beef and with Hungarian dumplings, and
[00:04:53] Hungarian dumplings, this will be actually the recipe that
[00:04:57] everyone is waiting for, and pay attention, not goulash.
[00:05:02] precious and a bit more Austrian, goulash, yes,
[00:05:04] goulash. We always start with a
[00:05:08] generous amount of pork fat from,
[00:05:11] let's say, the pig.
[00:05:16] We put the bacon after the lard, we also put
[00:05:19] bacon to fry
[00:05:23] and now we wait for it to brown. We add
[00:05:26] a little caraway to fry and
[00:05:30] we add the meat. So the caraway is added immediately after.
[00:05:34] Yes, because it releases its oils,
[00:05:37] a more pronounced caraway taste. That's
[00:05:41] how we make it. We don't have a specific
[00:05:44] recipe.
[00:05:51] Now we add the beef.
[00:05:53] Yes.
[00:05:59] So, this needs to brown a little,
[00:06:02] just enough to change its color, because
[00:06:06] we don't let the meat fry
[00:06:09] too much, and we can add onion.
[00:06:13] Aha, this means the onion will not boil. We
[00:06:16] green onion, because if it's the season, we have it in the
[00:06:19] garden, this we put, not other kind of
[00:06:23] onion. I also add vegetables, not very
[00:06:27] many, because no, there is a mix of carrots, carrots and
[00:06:31] peppers, but we don't put too much because we don't want to
[00:06:34] change the taste of the goulash, we don't make
[00:06:37] zacuscă.
[00:06:40] We'll put a little salt and.
[00:06:42] paprika, and then we'll add water so that it
[00:06:46] boils. We don't put beans, only
[00:06:50] potatoes. Potatoes will come and dumplings,
[00:06:53] perfect. And as you can see, the inevitable paprika.
[00:06:56] Yes, and a lot of paprika. There is
[00:07:00] a mix with smoked paprika, very
[00:07:03] little, only 20%. And you also need to know
[00:07:07] that if you want to come here, you need to
[00:07:11] look for this local gastronomic point of Mrs. Ergi in Călimănel and
[00:07:14] make a reservation in advance. Yes, a reservation is
[00:07:17] needed, because Mrs. Erji also
[00:07:20] works.
[00:07:23] We have, I also have a job and then Krina makes
[00:07:26] the reservations and depending on how they are free, I am lucky that
[00:07:30] I have two days off, coming off a night shift, she
[00:07:34] gets to gastronomy. We will meet Krina
[00:07:37] a little later when the meal is
[00:07:41] ready and not just her.
[00:07:51] Let's say it's a chance and an honor for Harghita to be a European gastronomic region next year.
[00:08:12] many years ago, he is the executive
[00:08:15] manager of Visit Harghita. Why did you want to promote
[00:08:19] Harghita as a European gastronomic region? It all started with an
[00:08:22] email I received in 2023.
[00:08:26] Initially, before, in 2022, we had a
[00:08:29] thematic year of gastronomy here in Harghita
[00:08:32] county and then I saw that the puzzle pieces
[00:08:35] exist in the county, we have very very many. Books
[00:08:39] have appeared. We have local producers
[00:08:43] with the brand "Székely product". We have magazines based on
[00:08:47] gastronomy, so there was a vibe at that time at
[00:08:51] the county level, and when I received the email, I said, "Look,
[00:08:55] I think we can do it because we actually have the whole ecosystem
[00:08:59] that underlies it." And so I said, I sent an
[00:09:03] email to the Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and
[00:09:06] Tourism based in Spain and so
[00:09:10] we started talking.
[00:09:12] I understood what the project was about and I said that we
[00:09:16] can do it and that's how we embarked on this path. What
[00:09:20] do you hope will happen when, starting from January 1st,
[00:09:23] Harghita is a European gastronomic region? For
[00:09:27] us, it is rather a branding
[00:09:30] value, this title on which we are trying to
[00:09:33] build something, but without laying solid foundations, we
[00:09:37] cannot. So we did
[00:09:40] several things. original and unprecedented things that have not been
[00:09:44] done at a national level. First of all, we identified
[00:09:47] 50 traditional dishes from here in
[00:09:50] Harghita, we call them signature dishes, and here
[00:09:53] there are elements of several cultures, Romanian,
[00:09:57] Hungarian, Székely, Armenian, etc. And we also have
[00:10:00] soups and main courses, etc. We will
[00:10:04] make a book about this in three languages, a very
[00:10:08] good one with descriptions, we have already photographed
[00:10:10] it, it is in progress. and we
[00:10:13] created an open farm system
[00:10:16] where you can visit and
[00:10:20] taste, try,
[00:10:23] caress, get to know. so this whole ecosystem
[00:10:27] we have 33 such certified
[00:10:30] locations, so we are trying to integrate the farms in the
[00:10:34] county into the tourist circuit at a strategic
[00:10:38] level. We have several conditions here, these are for
[00:10:41] the restaurants and gastronomic points in
[00:10:44] the county. One, to have on their menu elements
[00:10:48] of the gastronomy, gastroculture from
[00:10:51] here in the county. Two, to have real
[00:10:55] business connections with local producers and to
[00:10:59] be present on social media, on Instagram, Facebook,
[00:11:02] TikTok, etc. For now, this is in
[00:11:06] evaluation, 66 restaurants have applied to
[00:11:10] receive this distinction. I
[00:11:13] say that as we are at the end, surely about 40
[00:11:16] restaurants from this area will receive this
[00:11:20] distinction. We will put them on a map in digital format and in
[00:11:24] print format. We hope, and we are working for this, that
[00:11:27] Harghita county will be a stronger and more recognized
[00:11:31] tourist brand at a national level. I tell you, I like the project very much,
[00:11:35] I like the county very much, I like the people, and this is actually the main resource,
[00:11:39] exactly this extremely rich cultural interference,
[00:11:42] despite the fact that in general Harghita and Covasna, and part
[00:11:46] of Mureș, are associated with the Székely region, and people live with the impression that here
[00:11:50] there is somehow a Székely monopoly. There is indeed
[00:11:53] a Székely majority. It is the Székely Land, but it is
[00:11:57] an area of extraordinary confluence, and this is
[00:12:00] reflected very much in the dishes. How do you feel that
[00:12:04] Harghita is seen at this moment and how do you think it will
[00:12:08] implementation of this project? Our main asset is
[00:12:11] the natural setting, so we have
[00:12:14] elements, I would say tourist elements that are not
[00:12:17] recognized nationally or
[00:12:20] internationally. For example, it gets cool at
[00:12:24] night.
[00:12:26] So you can sleep peacefully, without the air conditioning
[00:12:30] on. This is an incredible tourist value, and
[00:12:33] this is what we want to become, to become a county, a
[00:12:37] tourist destination for families with gastronomy and
[00:12:41] multiculturalism. Good luck, rock and heart, thank you
[00:12:44] for your kindness.
[00:12:46] In the meantime, our goulash is quietly simmering
[00:12:49] on a low flame, and we take advantage of the break to
[00:12:52] explore the beauties of Harghita. Then we return to
[00:12:56] the table.
[00:13:05] I sincerely tell you that when we travel in
[00:13:09] Miercurea Ciuc through Gheorgheni towards Toplița, we pass through
[00:13:13] Ditrău, and if we want, for example, to also go towards Tulgheș, from Ditrău you can cross
[00:13:16] the mountain in a superb landscape towards Tulgheș. However, this Giurgeu depression
[00:13:20] is somehow dominated by the Ditrău church, a church with
[00:13:26] of rare beauty and which is practically the soul
[00:13:29] of the Ditrău community, a strong Catholic community.
[00:13:32] It is a Catholic church, it is an art monument and
[00:13:36] of course also a spiritual monument that you
[00:13:39] should not avoid, whether you are Catholic, or you have another Christian
[00:13:43] denomination, or perhaps even another religion, it doesn't matter, this is truly
[00:13:47] a spectacular place, being
[00:13:50] among the largest communities,
[00:13:52] Ditrău built
[00:13:56] this wonderful church in
[00:13:58] 1913.
[00:14:01] At that time, Ditrău, like Transylvania,
[00:14:05] belonged
[00:14:07] to Hungary, and from there came the
[00:14:11] engineers, designers and craftsmen. In
[00:14:14] the same era, the Hungarian parliament
[00:14:17] was built by the same architects,
[00:14:20] masters, craftsmen who worked on this church
[00:14:24] as well as in the Parliament of Budapest. It was built
[00:14:27] in a Neo-Gothic style, it has a
[00:14:30] length of 56 meters, a width
[00:14:34] of 23 meters and the height
[00:14:37] of the towers is 75 meters.
[00:14:40] It is the largest church here in
[00:14:43] the depression between Brașov and
[00:14:46] Cluj.
[00:14:55] Built in just five years from reinforced concrete and brick,
[00:14:59] the New Church in Ditrău is one of the most
[00:15:02] impressive Neo-Gothic churches in
[00:15:04] Transylvania.
[00:15:07] The 14 stained glass windows were made by the same
[00:15:10] workshop that created the stained glass windows of the Parliament in
[00:15:13] Budapest.
[00:15:21] The altar and wooden furniture were made by the
[00:15:24] workshop that built the furniture of the same
[00:15:27] parliament. Also in Budapest was
[00:15:30] built the impressive pneumatic organ, equipped with
[00:15:34] two keyboards and 12 registers.
[00:15:38] The statues in the altar are carved from Carrara marble
[00:15:42] and the sanctuary was painted in
[00:15:44] 1912 by the renowned painter Pauli
[00:15:48] Eric from Lombardy.
[00:15:50] All the details transform this church into a true
[00:15:54] jewel of Transylvanian
[00:15:56] heritage.
[00:16:04] In the church.
[00:16:07] Sacred Heart of Jesus, there are
[00:16:11] five bells and the largest
[00:16:14] bell weighs 2500
[00:16:17] kg and was cast
[00:16:20] in Budapest, in Walzerferens'
[00:16:23] workshop, which cast bells in
[00:16:27] several countries and during the First
[00:16:30] World War, in 1917,
[00:16:33] they broke it and threw it out
[00:16:37] of the tower window. The people cried down
[00:16:41] in front of the church and for
[00:16:44] 99 years, almost 100
[00:16:48] years, we missed it, and in
[00:16:50] 2019 we managed, from
[00:16:54] the will of a priest
[00:16:56] born here in Ditrău, who died
[00:17:00] in America, to make
[00:17:03] the bell, the Sacred Heart of Jesus."
[00:17:07] "in Odorheiu Secuiesc, in Lazar
[00:17:11] Imre's workshop, and now we
[00:17:14] are happy to hear the sound
[00:17:18] of the bell, which when the sky
[00:17:21] is clear, can be heard in Borsec
[00:17:25] which is almost 60
[00:17:28] km from here. The big bell can
[00:17:32] only be in
[00:17:35] big churches and. "the church in Ditrău is
[00:17:39] huge, big, it is, when
[00:17:42] the church is full, then
[00:17:46] it can hold almost
[00:17:49] people, impressive. Are there still 5000 people
[00:17:53] in Ditrău now? Unfortunately, there are no longer 5000 people. When the
[00:17:57] church was built, there were
[00:18:00] about 6000, and
[00:18:03] now 3500. I invite you to
[00:18:06] come and visit it." to pray here, whenever you pass, as I said,
[00:18:10] through the Georgeului depression, between Gheorgheni and Toplița, for
[00:18:14] example, on this main road artery, you
[00:18:17] cannot not see it, in fact you see it almost everywhere, it is indeed
[00:18:21] immense.
[00:19:11] We arrived in the commune of Tulgheș to meet Lăcrămioara
[00:19:15] Pop. For the children in the community, she
[00:19:18] is the mother of the drum. For UNESCO and the Ministry
[00:19:21] of Culture, she is a living human treasure who transformed
[00:19:25] her love for the past into a lifelong
[00:19:28] mission.
[00:19:34] We forget to live beautifully, we forget to see the bird sing,
[00:19:38] we forget to see the flower bloom, we become sad
[00:19:41] people. That's what I learned from my mother,
[00:19:45] to see, to feel,
[00:19:48] well and my father, on the other hand, was
[00:19:51] a man who prepared us for
[00:19:55] life in three words:
[00:19:58] rather a man without honor, rather dead. No
[00:20:02] peonies and proud dahlias, may
[00:20:05] they soothe me. The flowers in
[00:20:08] the garden, peony and proud dahlia,
[00:20:12] when the neighbors desire like
[00:20:14] the dead,
[00:20:17] don't stand in front
[00:20:19] of the gate,
[00:20:22] be proud. Thursday evening at the gate
[00:20:26] you will be. When the moon
[00:20:29] and the stars'
[00:20:32] light rose, do not turn
[00:20:35] back,
[00:20:38] and do not spoil its
[00:20:40] purpose,
[00:20:43] green willow, willow, at the gate
[00:20:47] I will leave you. I will
[00:20:50] leave you green willow
[00:20:53] willow, if you see it's a full
[00:20:56] moon,
[00:21:00] look for me in
[00:21:01] the garden.
[00:21:05] The truth is that my life has always been like this, if I was sad I
[00:21:08] sang, if I was happy I sang, if I was
[00:21:12] tired I sang and that's how I
[00:21:15] lived. I sang doinas in the evening when I came down from the hay or when
[00:21:19] I missed them. I sing them, because without them
[00:21:22] it's not possible, it's not possible, tears, if you sing them
[00:21:26] they don't blind you so
[00:21:28] much.
[00:21:34] I
[00:21:36] go,
[00:21:41] the world
[00:21:48] remains,
[00:21:50] and no one cries.
[00:21:53] after
[00:21:59] me. Yes,
[00:22:03] the leaf in the forest in
[00:22:07] the field
[00:22:08] grass,
[00:22:15] oh world,
[00:22:17] oh.
[00:22:20] "Because here everything I
[00:22:22] will
[00:22:25] leave
[00:22:27] behind,
[00:22:30] oh. I had no choice but to learn to play the stringed drum because I had no
[00:22:34] choice, I was left without a drummer. So I took
[00:22:37] the drum and started to beat it and I sang and beat the drum and
[00:22:40] I sang and beat the drum and I ended up beating it the way I like it. I
[00:22:44] started to feel it and I started to feel
[00:22:48] the drum the way I feel doinas.
[00:23:13] This instrument was an instrument that was very used in Transylvania
[00:23:17] until the early 1900s, even. And
[00:23:20] after, announcements from the
[00:23:23] town hall were made with it, but it is an
[00:23:26] instrument that provided
[00:23:29] the rhythm for dances, at the barn, at weddings, at
[00:23:32] baptisms, so it was later that drums and those
[00:23:36] came along. It was thus found in our
[00:23:40] villages. The peasant drum with strings, academics call it
[00:23:43] a beaten cello. It is tuned to the violin, G,
[00:23:46] D, A, E, usually when played in the country.
[00:23:50] And it is beaten and the thin
[00:23:54] string is plucked and that's how you
[00:23:58] keep the rhythm. So with this drum, the ensemble was accompanied
[00:24:01] in all years, every Sunday until
[00:24:05] 2024,
[00:24:07] in 2025, and they all died and we no longer had
[00:24:09] any.
[00:24:19] I stop.
[00:24:33] It's a fir wood, dry fir,
[00:24:37] well gathered dry, meaning the wood
[00:24:40] to be good and durable, it must be from
[00:24:44] rock and it must be
[00:24:48] cut in
[00:24:51] February and if possible on a
[00:24:54] Thursday and if possible even better during the full
[00:24:58] moon, then the wood is without sap, the
[00:25:01] rock wood is very hard, it has
[00:25:04] resonance, and the grain is
[00:25:06] straight, so when you hit with an axe, it
[00:25:10] goes down, it doesn't bend.
[00:25:13] Don't put your hand and work,
[00:25:17] your services will be paid.
[00:25:27] I received the title of Living Human Treasure, generally for everything
[00:25:31] I have done over time, especially
[00:25:34] for the fact that I know how to play
[00:25:37] this instrument on the verge of extinction and
[00:25:41] vocally and what else I do, I write, I
[00:25:44] also match verses, I also take care of the amateur
[00:25:48] artistic ensemble, I
[00:25:51] opened the museum,
[00:25:53] but tell
[00:25:57] me,
[00:25:59] Lord, I have
[00:26:03] come.
[00:26:07] Oh, the fate with
[00:26:10] which
[00:26:14] I have come,
[00:26:16] oh.
[00:26:22] You have the cross in my
[00:26:25] honor.
[00:26:28] I have carried it.
[00:26:32] Oh.
[00:26:33] Tell
[00:26:37] me,
[00:26:38] Lord,
[00:26:42] either I have ruined
[00:26:45] my
[00:26:48] destiny,
[00:26:50] oh. But
[00:26:53] after
[00:26:56] the world, I will
[00:26:58] not
[00:27:00] mourn.
[00:27:05] Nor will I shed
[00:27:07] tears.
[00:27:11] Oh.
[00:27:17] Come when I
[00:27:19] miss you,
[00:27:22] if I look,
[00:27:24] oh,
[00:27:28] dear world.
[00:27:35] "Leave a mark
[00:27:37] on
[00:27:40] earth,
[00:27:41] oh.
[00:27:44] I am a living human treasure of spirituality, for me it is an
[00:27:47] honor to know that I am protected by UNESCO. I didn't
[00:27:51] know that
[00:27:54] my way of being could eventually become a treasure.
[00:27:58] The fact that I was named a living human
[00:28:01] treasure put some heavy responsibilities on me, and
[00:28:05] since I received the title, I've been wondering if I've done my
[00:28:08] duty. You know there was a parable that deeds, not words.
[00:28:12] So let my deeds speak for me, I don't like to say if, yes, I did it, I
[00:28:16] strive, I have an ensemble, I take care of it, even though I'm alone now, I
[00:28:19] struggle because I no longer have a band, we
[00:28:22] no longer have people who can play
[00:28:24] live.
[00:28:31] Well,
[00:29:16] I founded the Tulgheș Amateur Artistic Ensemble in
[00:29:20] 2008 because it was my project promise when
[00:29:24] I started working. This year, I completed 18 years of ensemble,
[00:29:27] I think over 200 children have passed through in a commune of
[00:29:31] 3000 inhabitants.
[00:29:53] Tradition is everything we are,
[00:29:57] it is our culture, for every people, the culture of a
[00:30:01] people is what you learned from
[00:30:04] your own. My mother had a beautiful saying, "My
[00:30:08] boys, grow up and
[00:30:11] come back defeated, but don't come home with justice in your pocket either."
[00:30:51] We, parents today, need to learn that you can
[00:30:55] kiss children when they're awake, not just when they're sleeping, because our
[00:30:58] parents used to say that they didn't