ABSTRACT. Culinary discourse has been the subject of national and international scientific research in recent decades, demonstrating its epistemological and interpretative potential. The objective of this study is the exploration of the Romanian gastronomic spirit: to identify, through the analysis of incentivizing language facts represented in the nomenclature of culinary recipes, the way in which the physiognomy of Romanian taste has changed over time. There are surprising foreign influences exhibited in Romanian gastronomy that are highlighted by the examination of culinary preparations and supplemented by the multi-level linguistic analysis of several gastronomic discourse samples excerpted from Romanian cookbooks appearing over the course of three centuries

Keywords: discourse; gastronomy; tradition; influence; language; mentality