Food discussion: NATIONAL DISHES

The Hungarian Cuisine

Question 7: Do you think your country's food is the best?
Answer: Hmm... Let me consider it!

As I come from Hungary, I decided to write about the Hungarian cuisine and I would like to present a couple of typical Hungarian dishes to you.

But first of all, I have to explain, what 'eating' means for the average Hungarian people. For us, there is no holiday without an abundant family dinner. For example, my mother starts planning the Christmas menu weeks before Christmas. We always have an endless to-do list, we do the shopping, and then we start preparing food days before the holiday. By the time Christmas Eve arrives, the fridge is filled with the family's favourite dishes, at least 5 types of 'cakes' are baked and we are all tired of the kitchen and cooking, but from that point on we do nothing else, just enjoy the holiday, eat and drink together. The whole family gathers for dinner, and we usually stay together until supper. So we can say, that the family events are somehow all centered around food.

Usually - even on normal days - we spend lots of time in the kitchen preparing our food. An average meal - almost without exception - consists of soup (e.g. goulash soup, clear chicken soup or fish soup), main course and afterwards often something sweet, pastry or cake.

Halászlé (fish soup)

Töltött káposzta (stuffed cabbage)

One of the most important components of the Hungarian cuisine is definitely MEAT. I think, there are hardly any Hungarian dishes that cannot be somehow connected to pork, beef, chicken or fish. The most well-known dish is certainly the world-famous 'gulyás' (goulash) soup or stew made of beef, noodles and vegetables, especially potato, onion and paprika.

Gulyás

Another remarkable element of Hungary's cuisine is the 'vegetable stew' (főzelék) which is somewhere between the soup and the stew. It is a thick vegetable dish which can be made of cabbage, potato, tomato, peas, beans or even spinach. It usually does not appear in restaurants as it is a mainly home-made food and is considered to be an ordinary type of meal.

Főzelék (vegetable stew from peas)

Hungary has plenty of different desserts, for example the Dobos cake, 'bejgli' (cake roll filled with poppy seeds or nuts, mostly eaten at Christmas) or 'kürtőskalács' (chimney cake, baked over open fire, originates from Transylvania).

Kürtőskalács (chimney cake)

Dobos cake

And last but not least, the drinks. Hungary is famous for having a perfect climate and soil for wine production. As a result, the country has numerous excellent types of white and red wine. Another typical symbol of the country is the 'pálinka', a range of fruit brandies (usually plum, pear or peach), which are extremely strong, around 50 (V/V)%.

Wine

Pálinka

Question 7: Do you think your country's food is the best?
Answer: I wholeheartedly think, that Hungary's food is the best!

At least for me, the Hungarian meals outdo every other cuisine.

And finally a video:

Introduction

Hello Dear Reader!

(For some of you my introduction might be familiar, since I wrote it in the beginning of the last semester and posted it on Posterous, but I did not change too much in the last couple of months, so I hope you don't mind that I would like to share the same information about me on Blogger, as well.)

My name is Orsolya. Though here in Austria it seems like a difficult name, it’s really not. ‘Orsolya’ /ˈorʃoja/ is the Hungarian equivalent of ‘Ursula’, which both mean ‘little female bear’.

Fortunately I don’t tend to be as furious or aggressive as a she-bear can be, indeed, I’m really gentle. My friends say that I’m always the one who represents the ‘bright side of life’. I think there is no point in worrying until it’s really necessary. But when you already have to worry, it doesn’t matter, you can’t do anything just hope. Actually you might think that hoping can’t help more than worrying either, but I still believe that positive thinking attracts positive happenings. At least that’s my philosophy of how to avoid worrying and be prepared for the good. And what if I don’t have luck? I always have. Or at least I see things always useful the way they are, it’s really just a question of relativity. (By the way, I really like Einstein.) Things I also like is photography and pictures, books in all languages and the languages themselves, sunshine and a cup of hot tea (of course preferably not at the same time).

I come from Hungary, ‘the world of potentials’.
If you’re interested, take a look at this video:

I live near the Lake Balaton in a village with my loving parents and brother. I came to Austria because I think living and studying in a foreign country is a pretty good opportunity to improve my language skills and to get experience. I have always been fond of getting to know new things and properly acquiring foreign languages is undoubtedly a challenge.

I hope to spend here happy and successful years and I wish everyone the same!