Fair points.
The solution is , the exact 'species' does not really matter. There are 10 million types of cheese, but more or less they are the same. All the full cheeses in the world are around 50% fat, 25g protein per 100g. And a normal side-dish portion ( a thin slice, 4-5 inches long ) is around 80g. So there you go, count around 250kcals and 20g protein for that, if it is more or less than that, do the maths. Same for chicken, or veal, pork, whatever. Clean ( no fat ) meat will always be around 150klals / 25% protein per 100g. Normal portion is around 150g. If it is a steak, add 200-250kcals for the fat if you eat it. If something is fried , +300 per dry roasted portion version. Breads, million types of breads. Fuck it, a normal slice of bread will always have around 80kcals.
Now for the domestic foods, that is harder. Here the salvation came when fitness and diet became popular, 'trendy', so many domestic calorie-counting sites emerged that have all local recipes logged, and they have the 'standard portion' kcals too. So that soup your mom does, there is a standard recipe for that. Maybe everyone does it a bit different and some have more fat or others less meat, but you can get a good approximation from those sites. Generally speaking, a not-too-fat soup will be 300-350 kcals per dish, added fat ( oil, meat fat etc ) may bring it to 500-600. If there are no such Romanian sites, you will have to do it the hard way, see what your mom put there in what quantities, do the math, divide it by the plates it gave and you have another 'standard plate kcal' logged.
The whole thing is a bit frustrating in the beginning but you will get a good feel of it very very soon and you will be making the calculations without even trying, watching a plate on the table you will think "hm, normal size meat, 200kcals, half portion rice, around 50g, 200kcals, 2 slices of bread, 150kcals, double cheese portion , oops, much, 500kcals, total 1050, done".
Of course, this method is not 100% accurate. But it is 90% accurate with 10% the trouble. And that 10% of accuracy loss does not make a difference when we are talking about 20 to 30% deficits or or surpluses. If you want to be 100% accurate, then the only way is to count each and every gram of what you ate. Not worth the trouble imho, but still evidently the only 100% accurate method.