Recipes From Afar: Mamaliga in Romania A recipe for Romania's most essential, homiest, heartiest dish, straight out of the countryside: mamaliga. All photos by Alex Chirita My boyfriend and I had just arrived in B?cani, a small rural village in northeast Romania, about five hours from Bucharest by train. Before we could even hang up our coats and put down our bags, a pot of bright yellow mamaliga was being stirred in the kitchen. It was well after 10 p.m., but there was no question we’d be having a home-cooked Romanian meal before heading to bed. And I’m so happy we did. Made of corn flour, water, and salt, polenta-like mamaliga is as common as bread in Romania. In fact, it used to be known as “poor man’s bread” because wheat was not always available or affordable, but corn was. As a result, people started turning corn flour into a satisfying, versatile substitute for bread, and mamaliga was born. For many Romanians, including Dorina, my boyfriend’s mother, mamaliga has always been a staple food in the household: “As far as I can remember, almost everything we ate was with mamaliga.”