# Mamaliga from American maize — How a foreign grain became a national dish

What did Romanians eat before maize? Millet and buckwheat porridge, cooked in the same cauldron.

Maize was domesticated in Central America and reached Europe after the voyages of Columbus at the end of the fifteenth century (Revilla et al., Frontiers in Nutrition, 2022). By the beginning of the seventeenth century it was already an established field crop in the Romanian lands, and in the late nineteenth century it covered up to half of the cultivated surface — up to 50 in every hundred pogons (Șuteu et al., PLOS ONE, 2013).

Before maize, people cooked millet and buckwheat. The thick porridge already carried the name mamaliga: the nickname “Mălai vodă”, given to Michael the Brave by Transylvanians, more likely hides a millet mamaliga than one made from maize flour (Revista Istorică, 2023).

Arrival dates differ by region. In Transylvania maize is attested in the seventeenth century, from where it spread onwards. For Wallachia and Moldavia there is no certain year. For the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans there is no clear evidence of a very early presence.

## The mechanism, in brief

Millet took three steps — husking, milling, boiling — while maize took two: milling and boiling. From the same ground, farmers saw in maize more food, and cobs that keep through winter. A pogon is almost 5,000 square metres (exactly 5,011.79 square metres, DEX). By 1900 maize covered up to 50 in every hundred pogons.

## Epilogue

In 2024 maize covered 41.8% of Romania's cereal area — about 42 in every hundred pogons — and supplied a third of the cereal harvest (33.5%). Romania stood first in the European Union for cultivated area and third for production, after France and Poland (National Institute of Statistics, provisional 2024 data).

## Sources

- Revilla, P. et al. (2022), Frontiers in Nutrition 8: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8780548/
- Șuteu, D. et al. (2013), PLOS ONE 8(12): https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085501
- Revista Istorică nos. 4–6/2023 (review): https://revistaistorica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/RI-nr.-4-6_2023-11.Note-si-Recenzii-225-230.pdf
- National Institute of Statistics, 2024 crop production (provisional): https://insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/com_presa/com_pdf/prod_veg_r24.pdf
- DEX ’98, “pogon”: https://dexonline.ro/definitie/pogon

Written and documented by Marius Comper. Full edition with interactive bench: https://mariuscomper.uk/mamaliga-porumbului-american/en/