Food & Drink

Czech cuisine has both influenced and been influenced by the cuisines of surrounding countries. It is marked by a strong emphasis on meat dishes. Pork is quite common, and beef and chicken are also popular. Fish is rare, with the occasional exception of fresh trout, and carp, which is served at Christmas.

Meat dishes are often served with knedliky (boiled sliced dumplings) and zeli (sauerkraut). Other specialities include:

• Bramborak (potato pancakes filled with garlic and herbs).
• Sma?ený sýr or sma?ák (a 1 cm slice of cheese (usually Edam or Hermelín) coated in bread-crumbs and fried, topped with tartar sauce).
• Svícková (marinated beef sirloin, with a thick sauce made of carrot, parsley and cream, served with dumplings).
• Utopenci - literally "drowned men" (piquantly pickled bratwursts).
• Vepro-knedlo-zelo (roast pork with dumplings and cabbage).

Desserts

Fruit dumplings (ovocné knedlíky) are mostly made using plums (svestkové knedlíky) and are served as dessert on holidays such as Easter and Christmas. Whole plums are coated with potato dough and boiled, then served with butter, sugar and sometimes milled poppy (tvaroh). Different varieties of fruit dumplings include strawberry, cherry, apricot, bilberry or peach.

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

Drinks

The most popular drinks in the Czech Republic are beer and specialist brandies, including Becherovka (herb), slivovice (plum) and merunkovice (apricot).