A brief description of recent economic development and food security in Romania is provided in the present study. We further employ several quantitative methods to analyze recent food demand patterns. We first assess Engel curves by nonparametric Kernel regression and then estimate an Almost Ideal Demand System for aggregated food groups. Computed elasticities are consistent with the economic theory and four out of five food groups are perceived as luxuries by lowincome, rural households. All the price elasticties are negative and lower than1 meaning a price inelastic demand except for the dairy products with a price elastic demand. Majority of the crossprice elasticities have positive values revealing a possible substitution effect among food groups. Demographic effects such as family size, number of kids, and age of the households head seem to have statistically significant impact on the food expenditures.