Coliva reinterpreted

Coliva is a fundamental ritual dish in Romanian culture and spirituality

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 16.06.2026, 14:00

Made from boiled, sweetened and decorated wheat, coliva is an integral part of funerals and memorial services, symbolizing the connection between life and death, through the prism of Christian teachings. The origins of coliva take us to the first centuries of Christianity and are linked to a miracle of Saint Theodore Tiron, recorded in the 4th century (who saved Christians by urging them to eat boiled wheat with honey instead of dishes that had just been sprinkled with blood in the markets).

Coliva, defined by August Scriban in his “Dictionary of the Romanian Language” (1939), was: “a sweet dish (made from boiled wheat, crushed nuts, crushed sugar, cinnamon, etc.) which is offered especially “by the soul of the dead” at funerals and on memorial days of the dead”. Over time, in the Orthodox area, coliva also became a dessert, eaten on occasions other than commemorative ones. Thus, other uses of wheat grain, or arpacas (a food product obtained by hulling and grinding wheat, barley or millet grains), wheat being one of the main cereals cultivated in this country, emerged.

At his place in the Old Center of Bucharest, Ovidiu Logican repeats an event that is always successful every 40 days: “The Great Coliva Tasting / Wine”. We asked Ovidiu Logican why he chose Coliva and how it can be reinvented:

Ovidiu Logican:” We believe that anything can be reinterpreted and reinvented, in these moments. We started from its content, we have arpacaş, which is a carbohydrate, so in theory we can substitute rice with arpacaş, or pasta with arpacaş, or other preparations made from white flour, semolina. We can reinterpret anything by replacing the carbohydrate with arpacaş, and then, on the sweet side, we can add exotic fruits, we can add chocolate, we can add cream, whipped cream, ice cream, eclair shells, choux-a-la-creme shells. There are so many variations, only the mind is the limit for what can be done with the classic coliva. Obviously, we always serve the traditional coliva, but we have a wide range of reinterpretations, which we call “salty coliva” and “sweet coliva”.

Ovidiu Logican detailed the menu of such an evening

Ovidiu Logican: “We had coliva sushi, coliva quatro formaggi, we had some marinated meatballs from coliva, other times I had coliva sarmale; we had boeuf salad with coliva, cozonac, that is pound cake, with coliva. The three I told you about were at “sour coliva”, then at “sweet coliva” we had traditional coliva, then a coliva mousse with salted caramel and finally a cake with a base and coliva cream.”

Being an event with a challenging theme, we asked who is getting involved in it. Here is Ovidiu Logican with more.

Ovidiu Logican: “Only Romanians, a lot of young people, a little skeptical at first and, in the end, happy and satisfied that they tried a different experience. It is our most successful event and the one that is always full! We are resuming our other classic events, the Parizer Tasting, the Great Sarmale Tasting, with sarmale recipes from all continents, plus all kinds of thematic excursions into wine-growing areas of the world: Sicily, Tuscany, Bordeaux, many experiences based on wine and all kinds of novel associations, reinterpretations of classic recipes. We have Champagne and Caviar; we have many interesting events.”

And the advice for those curious would be to enter the site, scroll through the multiple events and reserve the one that you think suits them best.

Ovidiu Logican also spoke to us about the importance of pairing a suitable wine with the coliva-based product offered for tasting.

Ovidiu Logican: “For the “salty colive” part, we always start with a sparkling wine, which goes great, especially since sparkling wine goes very well with fat, then, if the salty colive is less aromatic, we go for more neutral, simpler varieties, a Pinot Grigio, a Romanian wine, if we have more aromatic colives, we also add a more aromatic wine, such as a Sauvignon Blanc, or a Romanian Tămâioasă, or a Busuioacă rose. Later, when we move on to the sweet colives, we move to Fetească Neagră, to Italian red wines such as Primitivo, or Amarone and, in the end, almost always, a very aromatic wine, a Porto wine.”

And because even in these culinary journeys the traditional recipe is preserved, we will remind you that this is made in every Romanian family, according to a recipe inherited from the elders and tested over time. The simplest recipe is made from arpacaş (hulled wheat) because it boils very quickly. A well-made coliva has “bloomed” grains, that is, open. Arpacas boils quickly, in 15-20 minutes, exactly like rice whereas wheat boils in over 40-50 minutes. The arpacaş-water proportions are 1:3, meaning that for 1 kg of arpacaş, 3 L of cold water with a little salt are added, necessary to enhance the flavor of the final product. Sugar, or honey, cinnamon, grated biscuits and ground walnuts are added to the final mixture, and in the end it is decorated with small candies, or cocoa powder, or coffee beans. Anyone who loves boiled and sweetened wheat can always make it in the form of candies filled with cherries.

(bill)