Food Culture and Tradition

NORTHERN HUNGARY This area is called Paloc, and extends from the Danube River to the Soviet border. It is as famed for its many local crafts and embroideries as for the wine called hull’s blood or Egri Bikaver. Here in small villages, life has continued with little change almost since ...

BUDAPEST The capital of Hungary, Budapest is actually a union of three cities, Buda, Pest, and Obuda, which joined in 1873 to form, among other things, what is, arguably, the pastry and coffeehouse capital of the world. Reputedly the city of “romance, wine and Gypsy music,” Budapest is also the ...

HUNGARIAN GLOSSARY OF FOODS AND FOOD TERMS Bankoti: name given to the high-gluten content Hungarian wheat. Barack: apricot brandy. Csipetke: literally “pinched noodles” made by preparing a stiff dough from eggs, flour, and water then pinching off tiny pieces and dropping them in boiling salted water to cook. Cukraszda: one ...

HUNGARIAN MEALS AND CUSTOMS The dishes comprising the Hungarian cuisine form the distilled essence of centuries of adaptations based on their native ingredients and the fine recipes from other peoples that have been a part of Hungarian history. What sets these dishes apart and makes them so distinctly Hungarian is ...

HUNGARIAN SPECIAL OCCASIONS It is estimated that two-thirds of the Hungarian population is Roman Catholic, the remainder Protestant. The large Jewish population that was for so long a part of Hungary was either exterminated under the Nazis or escaped to other lands; few remain. Religious practice was not encouraged under ...

HUNGARIAN DOMESTIC LIFE Class distinctions were very much a part of Hungarian daily life until shortly after the Second World War. In the homes of aristocrats, lavish meals of many courses, each with intricately prepared dishes, were possible because of the availability of cooks, gardeners, and servants. Finely crafted tableware ...

HUNGARIAN FOODS THAT ARE COMMONLY USED The staple foods of the nomad Magyars in earliest times included meat from their herds of sheep (lamb, sheep, mutton), game, millet and groats, some fish and Zsendice, a fresh cheese made from sheep’s milk. Foods were cooked mainly over open fires on sticks ...

FOODS IN HUNGARY DAIRY PRODUCTS Fresh milk is seldom used as a beverage, but it is used in many dishes, especially puddings, custards, and milk soups. Variations of Zsendice – a staple so long ago – are still popular in certain areas and fresh curd is the type of cheese ...

FOOD AND CULTURE IN HUNGARY Hungarians do not take anything lightly, least of all food. The romantic, volatile, and soulful Hungarian uses food the way most other people use psychology, politics, literature, material acquisitions, and even medicine. Food is the prelude to a mood, the buffer for difficult situations, and ...