The national dish of Slovakia, bryndzové halušky, is potato-dough gnocchi smothered in salty sheep bryndza cheese, and topped with fried bits of smoked, fatty bacon along with some of the fat. The ingredients are staples of the Slovak cuisine, and the dish itself exemplifies its nature. In this historically agrarian, rural society, food provided high-energy, low-cost, and quick-prep sustenance to peasants, herders, and laborers.