Spices & Seasoning

Three things, and between them they season most of Central and Eastern Europe.

Vegeta is the Croatian all-purpose seasoning that has been in every kitchen from Zagreb to Kyiv since 1959 — dried vegetables and salt, used the way Americans use a bouillon cube, in soup, on roast potatoes, on everything. Knorr Aromat is the German equivalent, here in the garlic version, sprinkled on eggs and salad. Maggi liquid seasoning is the dark bottle: fermented, intensely savoury, a few drops in soup or on a fried egg, and completely unlike soy sauce despite the resemblance.

If you grew up with any of these, the substitute never quite worked. This is the real thing.