Moldova's queen-of-the-kitchen chicken soup: a thin sour broth with homemade egg noodles, lovage and a finishing splash of fermented bran liquid or lemon juice.

Zeamă (also spelled zama) developed from Bessarabia's rural pantry of fermented grains and barnyard chickens. The sourness comes from fermented wheat-bran liquid called borș, sour grape juice or, in modern kitchens, lemon. The herb lovage gives zeamă its unmistakable celery-anise lift. Moldovan wedding custom names the day after the ceremony La Bors or La Zama, when a huge pot of zeamă is served before all other courses to revive the guests; the soup is reputed across Moldova to be the country's most reliable hangover cure.

3 editor picks for Zeamă in Chișinău, ranked by editorial score. All Chișinău signature dishes · Zeamă across every city.

Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

Zeamă makes more sense with someone from Chișinău explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.

Book food experiences in Chișinău

See all 93 bookable experiences in Chișinău