Staying in a village guesthouse or eco-pension is the single best food experience Maramureș offers, and also the most practical: many villages have no restaurant at all, so if you are spending the night, the family table is where you eat. Book through local tourism networks or by calling ahead — most guesthouses in the Iza, Mara, and Cosău valleys take guests, and the prices are modest.
Breakfast is usually bread baked in a wood-fired oven, fresh butter and cheese, eggs from the yard, and jam made the previous summer. Dinner is a longer affair: a thick soup or ciorbă, mămăligă with sour cream, a meat dish (often smoked pork or roast chicken), and pickled or preserved vegetables according to season. Wild mushrooms in autumn, fresh beans in summer, dried beans and smoked meats in winter. There is always pălincă, the local plum brandy — refusing it on the first offer is taken as polite; refusing it on the second is taken seriously.
If you are self-catering or passing through, the weekly markets in larger villages are worth stopping at for smoked cheeses, home-cured meats, and seasonal produce.