No Reservations: Prague Edition

The Changing Landscape of Czech Cuisine

The American chef James Beard said that, “food is our common ground, a universal experience.” For CIEE Prague Global Navigators, that piece of wisdom has held true; we have come to understand Czech culture better not only through our classes and sight-seeing excursions but also through our meals.

Over the course of our almost-three weeks here, we have been able to sample and see all kinds of Czech cuisine, from the traditional (such as stews and dumplings) to the unexpected (birthday cakes made out of meat!). We have shopped for luscious fruits in the local farmers’ markets, bought the decadent street foods that the vendors sell in Old Town Square, and tried ALL the coffee and the gelato.

Czech cuisine is more diverse than what many of us expected – our group agreed that one of our best meals was at a vegan restaurant close to our school (we loved it so much, our fantastic CIEE hosts arranged for us to go there a second time!). And the Czech food scene is changing. When we had a chance to choose a dinner place for ourselves, our Czech buddies suggested Vietnamese food. Because of their shared history with communism, the Czech Republic has had a significant influx of Vietnamese immigration, and these new Czech citizens have brought with them their culinary heritage. A local coffee shop is even now carrying a Czech-language Vietnamese cookbook!

We were so excited, then, when our CIEE Prague hosts arranged for us to have a cooking class at a professional cooking school near the end of our time here. Finally, we could learn how the magic happens and replicate these delectable dishes for our family and friends back home. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work on a four-course meal of mushroom soup, potato pancakes with sauerkraut, goulash and Karlsbad dumplings, and then sweet dumplings with strawberry sauce! Czech out the video of our cooking class below.

Cooking Up a Storm with CIEE

The Best Thing I Ate in Prague

Hear from our Global Explorers about the culinary highlights of our time in Prague:

“The best thing I’ve eaten in Prague was the beef goulash and dumplings that we made during our cooking class. The goulash was beef, onions, broth, and some seasoning to add a little more flavor to it. The dumplings were chopped up pieces of bread mixed with egg whites and parsley. Once combined, it was all condensed and heated together to make the dumplings — so good!” – Karissa Tschida

“The first night of my global abroad experience, shortly after I landed in the Czech Republic, there was a Welcome Dinner being held at the restaurant 'U Semika'. We arrived most likely around 6:00 p.m. with many delicious choices, however the traditional goulash turned out to be the only thing that mattered to me. The hearty Czech dish consisted of a thick, beefy soup and bread slices (dumplings); it was so filling and flavorful! The soup-like substance was amazing, as I could taste all of the seasoning put into it: definitely the best of pickings in all of Czechia.” – Sanaa Lee

“The best thing I have eaten in Prague is definitely the fried cheese - or smazeny syr in Czech. It is usually just fried Edam cheese with a side of French fries with many dips including tartar sauce and ketchup. I’ve had it for dinner a number of times while I was here. I really like the taste and the stringy-ness of the cheese.” – Kaidesh Forrester

“The trdelniks! They are 100% the best thing I've had in the Czech Republic.” – Sophia LaFleur

“The best thing I ate in Prague would be the chocolate trdelnik I got from an old town square vendor. Essentially it was a spiral of dough smothered in sugar and filled with chocolate.” – Nolan Ygnoc

“The best thing I ate was the traditional Czech soup which we made in the cooking class on Tuesday. It mostly consisted of potatoes and mushrooms, and I thought it was interesting that they picked the mushrooms themselves in the forest. They call the soup ‘Saturday Soup’ because they pick the mushrooms every Saturday and enjoy the soup on that day.” – Danielle Ciesielski