At the Barbecue

Ana Vlad
The ones always arriving first were Mircea and Roxana and they were also bringing the drinks. Juice, beer, palinka made by Roxana's father and brandy for Tavi. They were followed by Diana and Andrei, who were bringing the cakes. Diana was a pro in bakery. Tavi was always coming on time and Raluca with Radu were always the last ones. Tavi was taking the minced meat rolls out of the backpack and Radu was taking Raluca out. The pork steaks and the wine were on the house: Bianca was a professional sommelier and Raul knew how to cook the best meat. I would pull up my chair as soon as they all gathered and make sure they didn't find out I was on the other side of the fence.

Costi Gălățanu
Since the big closing of Diggerceanu's Tavern, Mișu Mihalache's outdoor patio crowded itself with customers. Minced meat rolls were sizzling on the grill nonstop; the beer was flowing in waves, the manele music was booming in the loud speakers and the boss' pockets were full of bucks. Mihalache from Obor, meat minced rolls to suit everyone's taste, that's how he was promoting himself as loud as he could. Everything was fine until he got arrested. A young guy, freshly graduated from the Academy, had an idea to send the meat to be tested. He saw a movie about someone called Hannibal Lecter.

Ina Moldoveanu
I don't know why if I write here, my post is shown on my profile. What settings does the page have? Or maybe it is the barbecue's fault? Seriously now, who's making barbeque in the summer? I check to see where it can be seen. My post not the barbeque. I leave to you the gazpacho recipe. For two portions: two tomatoes, one cucumber, half of green pepper, one clove of garlic, a little bit of onion, olive oil, half glass of cold water. Everything is blended and served cold with pieces of vegetables and croutons. Or simple. With some goat cheese. Save the grill, cool the planet.

(Translated by Constantin Grigorescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In September 2023, the group has 11,820 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.