Masa de Paște: familie, prieteni, club și prăjituri

What is “cozonac”?

Cozonac is the Romanian holiday sweet bread baked for Easter, Christmas, and big family celebrations. Traditional cozonac is shaped as a tall, narrow loaf with a braided dough containing a swirl of walnut paste, poppy-seed paste, or rahat (Turkish delight). Romanian families bake it in long ceramic or metal forms; the dough rises overnight and the kitchen smells like vanilla and walnuts for days.

This clip is a Romanian masa de Paște (“Easter table”) scene: family meal, then drinks at the club, then home to prăjituri (cakes) and cozonac. Cozonac sits next to drob (a lamb-organ pâté) and pasca (a sweet cheese pastry) as the trio of dishes that define Romanian Easter.