Polish, Slovak, Slovene, and Hungarian cuisines, while considered Central European cuisines are considerably dissimilar to the Czech and Austrian/German cuisines in the rest of the region. Polish and Slovak cuisine are more influenced by East Slavic cuisines, but still maintain some significant influence from the Germano-Czech cultural sphere. Slovene cuisine is also in a similar position, but is influenced by Balkan and Mediterranean cuisine as opposed to East Slavic. Hungarian cuisine is likely the most dissimilar, which while maintaining some considerable connections, is mostly influenced by East Slavic, Balkan, and Ottoman cuisine.
Roman Empire influence
During the
cereals. Archaeobotanical evidence has shown that a large number of new foodstuffs were introduced to Central Europe under Roman rule, becoming incorporated into (rather than replacing) local culinary flavors. Because chickpeas, gourd, black pepper, pistachio, almond, dates, olives, melons and rice were difficult to cultivate locally they remained imported luxuries, out of reach for most. Evidence has been found for dill, celery seeds and other seasonings at Bibracte and other excavation sites.[2][3]
