What is vegeta?
Vegeta or vegetable food base/ vegetable stock powder/ seasoning, in the form of powder or concentrated cubes, is the magic element that helps in the kitchen when you make soups, stews or other cooked dishes and can replace salt and some of the vegetables. Before 1989, the only brand on the Romanian market was Vegeta from Podravka, from Croatia, ex-Yugoslavia, so it entered the current vocabulary as a noun. Similar examples of brands from communism that have become common nouns are Adidas (“Where are your adidas?”) or Xerox (“I’m going to xerox with the recipe book.”).
Why aren’t there quantities on all recipes?
With the exception of cake recipes or some recipes where you have to have quantities, for the rest I cook according to classic Romanian principles, with “a pinch of salt”, “flour as it needs” and “vegetables according to the eye”. In other words, I use observation, previous experience, and logic to decide roughly what amount of ingredients to use, based on the number of servings and the dishes provided. Fortunately in the kitchen you can experiment, because it is not a strict matter.