Czech Republic tourist information

Czech cuisine has both influenced and been influenced by the cuisines of surrounding countries. Many of the fine cakes and pastries that are popular in Central Europe originated in the Czech lands.

Czech cuisine is marked by a strong emphasis on meat dishes. Pork is quite common, and beef and chicken are also popular. Goose, duck, rabbit and wild game are served. Fish is rare, with the occasional exception of fresh trout, and carp, which is served at Christmas.

Side dishes
Knedliky (boiled sliced dumplings) are one of the mainstays of Czech cuisine and are quite often served with meals. They can be wheat or potato based, and are sometimes made from a combination of wheat flour and stale bread or rolls. They are typically large and served cut into slices, in contrast with the smaller dumplings found in Austrian cuisine. Only potato based dumplings are usually smaller.

Meat dishes
Roast pork with dumplings and cabbage (veprova pecene s knedliky a se zelim, colloquially vepro-knedlo-zelo) is considered the most popular Czech dish. There are two variants of preparing the cabbage, Bohemian and Moravian. Bohemians prefer the cabbage to be sour, so they prepare the dish from sauerkraut. In Moravia it is preferred sweeter and so is prepared from fresh cabbage, or by adding some sugar, if the fresh variety is not available. But these variants aren't strict, and either may be available in each region.

Marinated beef sirloin (svickova na smetane or simply svickova). Roast beef, usually larded, with a thick sauce of carrot, parsley root, root celery, and cream. Often served with Knedliky, a cream topping, a teaspoon of cranberry compote, and a slice of lemon.

Snacks
Since beer culture is a big part of Czech life, many popular Czech dishes and cheeses are usually eaten as pub fare.

Bramboraky (regionally called cmunda or vosouch in Pilsen and "strik" or "striky" in Czech Silesia) are fried pancakes made of rough-grated or fine-grated raw potatoes (brambory in Czech), flour, milk and sometimes sliced sausages (but this is not common, because bramboraky are usually inteded to be a vegetarian meal). They are spiced with marjoram, salt, pepper, and garlic. Usually sized to fit the cooking dish. Smaller variants are often eaten as a side dish. There is a similar dish from the Slovakian-Ruthenian borderland called harula, which is prepared with less milk and fat, and an addition of an onion. Harula are baked on tin in a oven instead of frying.

Utopenci (literally "drowned men") are piquantly pickled bratwursts.

Cheese
Smazeny Syr (colloquially smazak) is maybe the less noble, but the most contemporary of Czech national dishes. A slice of cheese (usually Edam or Hermelin) about 1 cm thick (or whole Hermelin) is coated in bread-crumbs like Wiener schnitzel (which is very popular, also) and fried either on a pan or in deep fryer, and often topped with tartar sauce (tatarka or tatarska omacka in czech). The czech version of tartar sauce has a thin consistency similar to mayonnaise.

Nakladany hermelin is a soft cheese, similar to Camembert marinated with peppers, onion etc. in oil. Hermelin can also be deep fried as above. Pivni Syr (beer cheese) is a soft cheese, usually mixed with raw onions and mustard, and spread on bread. Niva is a a blue cheese, originally made in the town of Niva in the Prostejov district.

Olomoucke syrecky or "tvaruzky" is an aged cheese with a strong odour, invented by Josef Wesselss 131 yrs. ago. It's made in Lostice, a small town in Moravia. The tradition of making this cheese dates back to the 15th century. Tvaruzky can be prepared in a number of ways -- for example, you can fry it, marinate it, or add it to Bramboraky.

Sweets
Fruit dumplings (ovocne knedliky) are mostly made using plums (svestkove knedliky). Whole plums (in some regions including the stones) are coated with potato dough and boiled, then served with butter, sugar and sometimes milled poppy or tvaroh. Different varieties of fruit dumplings include strawberry, cherry, apricot, bilberry or peach. They are usually eaten as a main dish.

Kolache (Kolace) is a type of pastry consisting of fillings ranging from fruits to cheeses inside a bread roll.

Vanocka is prepared for Christmas, along with many kinds of biscuits and sweets (vanocni cukrovi). With the exception of Kolace and vanocni cukrovi, most sweets are consumed with coffee in the late afternoon, rather than immediately after a main meal. Kolace are commonly eaten at breakfast.

Beverages
Aside from Slivovitz, Czech beer and wine, Czechs also produce two uniquely Czech liquors, Fernet Stock and Becherovka. Kofola is a non-alcoholic Czech soft drink somewhat similar in look and taste to Coca-Cola.