In this section you’ll find Czech Nationwide Recipes which are cooked in the whole Czech Republic; for only regional recipes click here
It began with the Celts and Slavs that lived in the area who used local ingredients in their meals, the grains, and cereals, the animals that were being raised and hunted as well as local fish. Bread was the first staple along with cheese, milk was also important. All types of grains were raised and use for bread or porridge.
They also had fruits and berries. Grapes were first planted in 300 AD. so wine was made. Each region influenced other regions as well was influenced by other countries during the trading times. The meat was either boiled, roasted or smoked and they made sausages Beer was made in 1370. During these times new seasonings and spices came into use from the Spanish, French, and English in the 16th century and first written recipes appeared in the 15th century. These spices included pepper, all spice, cinnamon and others.
A preserved printed cook book from the 17th century had “Castle meals” and “village meals” the main difference being the meat, villagers didn’t eat a lot of meat, maybe only once a week when possible.
With the trading of goods brought all the new foods that soon became very popular as seen in the 18th and 19th centuries and became available to almost everyone as people could grow or raise the animals or crops.
The typical meals will have a soup, meat usually pork dumplings or potatoes, sauerkraut, a gravy and a dessert. Every region has something special like Olomouce curd cheese, Krkonose sour soup, Pardubice gingerbread, Chodsko kolaches, and Prague Ham. There are many types of dumplings, fruit, bread, potato, and Karlovy Vary.
Many cakes and pastries originated in The Czech Lands and are now found worldwide, especially where Czechs immigrated, taking all the recipes with them to their new homes.
