Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2014 (26. évfolyam, 1-39. szám)
2014-05-09 / 19. szám
Hungarian Journal w BiiillWitilMawMgaPMBEECTOuiBaS« Hungarian origin US candidates blasts on politics in Hungary The award-winning television journalist is running for office for the first time in his life, and it’s not a local or state seat. Cohn is the likely Democratic candidate to face Republican incumbent Dennis Ross in Congress this fall, and is taking it hard to Ross in campaign events throughout Polk and Hillsborough county, where the district resides. One thing Cohn and Ross do share is ancestry. They both have Hungarian roots, but Cohn says they have different views regarding Hungary’s recently re-elected prime minister, Viktor Orbán. While Ross went on to the floor of the House last week to congratulate Orbán, Cohn is critical, saying that he’s too close for comfort with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the Iranian government. “He boasts about the fact that he comes from grandparents who are Hungarians — so do I,” says Cohn. “At least I’m smart enough to realize that a leader of Hungary who is pro- Iran and pro-Putin is not on the right side of the history.” Obviously, this race is just getting started, cltampa.com Hungarian culture celebrated The foyer at Lethbridge City Hall in Alberta, Canada was transformed into a small Hungarian village for a few hours Sunday afternoon. It was for a UNITAS community inclusion event on celebrating and providing awareness on Hungarian Culture, in partnership with the Hungarian Cultural Society, said Roy Pogorzelski, an inclusion consultant for the City of Lethbridge. It was also the third event of 2014 for UNITAS, which is Latin for unity, a community collaboration started by CMARD and the Inclusion Consultant of the Community and Society Development (CSD) Group in Lethbridge. “We’re trying to, every month, hold a different inclusion series piece on a different ethnocultural community that lives in Lethbridge, so showing our citizenship that make it such a vibrant community,” Pogorzelski said. “And it’s more than just a showcase, it’s an education piece. This is an opportunity to engage the culture a little bit more. The passion here today is incredible.” The foyer was filled with displays and booths featuring information about Famous Hungarians and the country’s list of Nobel prize winners, as well as textiles, jewelry, art, food and music. There was also performances by the Hungarian Trio Magyamota Harmas and traditional Hungarian dancers, as well as the anthems of Hungary and Canada. Carole Gemer, president of the local Hungarian Cultural Society, which has about 150 families involved in various capacities, said she was happy with Sunday’s turnout and for the celebration of Hungary. “It is this sharing that develops an appreciation and understanding of the diversities of our community and proves that nations can play together in harmony,” Gemer said. lethbridgeherald. com The Great Fish Soup Wars of Hungary ‘Halászlé’, hot Hungarian fish soup, is well known all over the Visegrad region. The age-old fish soup rivalry between Szeged and Baja, the two towns most famous for their halászlé, has recently taken a new turn with the arrival of high cuisine. Conflicts concerning fish soup are not new in Hungary. The towns of Szeged on the river Tisza and Baja on the banks of the Danube have given their names to two variants of halászlé. Both types move masses of followers, and both towns regard their own variant as authentic. Those from Szeged swear on local ingredients. Their fish soup is made of fish caught from the Tisza river: carp bream, crucian carp, carp, catfish and starlet. This style of soup starts with a basic broth traditionally made of at least four types of fish. Onion is fried with hot powdered Szeged paprika, then the fish meat is cooked until it separates from the bone. After the bone is removed, the meat is pounded, resulting in a thick broth. This broth is put back on the fire, together with the fish pieces to be served later. Chefs in Szeged use the ‘puszta’ (Hungarian Great Plains) style cauldron, which opens up at the top and allows the fish to gurgle around somewhat. Meanwhile in Baja, those who want to make a quick soup usually make fish soup from carp. The horseshoe shaped fish is boiled in water, and when it is almost ready, paprika (mostly from Kalocsa) is put into the soup. Since the resulting soup is not as thick as the Szeged variant, home-made “matchstick” pasta is added - which is regarded as blasphemy by people from Szeged. Baja chefs use the so-called Balkan style cauldron, which narrows towards its top and therefore keeps the fish more intact. The age-old fish soup wars between Szeged and Baja are now taking on a new, third dimension: that of culinary experts. People have been talking about a gastronomic revolution in Hungary for quite a few years now. Around 2010, the first of three Hungarian restaurants received its Michelin star, high cuisine was rediscovered, and consumer tastes began to change. Suddenly, dozens of restaurants were opening with young chefs who had spent time abroad, and gastro-columns, programmes and celebrity chefs began popping up. Urban youths started to visit farmers’ markets and cookery courses, as well as wine tastings. Long-forgotten ingredients and foods have become curiosities, and unknown farmers from the countryside have become popular in the city. This promising situation was tread upon by the restaurant review team of Gault-Millau. The renowned reviewers visited Szeged and evaluated the fish soup offered there. “Smelling of stew, too salty, not fresh, often reheated,” as well as overly large portions, were some of the harshest criticisms of the fish soups. The criticism caused a huge uproar among more self-assertive Szeged citizens. Locals proud of their city defended their favourite places, and chefs emerged from their kitchens infuriated. They reminded the reviewers of the continuing colossal demand for their soups. Besides Hungarians, the restaurants also receive floods of Romanian, German and Serbian guests who are satisfied and return regularly. There are never enough parking spaces around the restaurants, the chefs claimed, therefore their fish soup cannot be that bad. T cannot serve a cupboard-sized Serbian man a tiny plate of high cuisine fish soup!’ one chef is known to have exclaimed. In questions of style and authenticity, it is hard to make an objective choice. The country has so many settlements near water that, in addition to the two famous variants already mentioned, there are many more local varieties, all of which are purported to be the real thing. At present, twelve settlements on riverbanks (not including settlements near Lake Balaton) claim their fish soup was the original. Experts of gastronomic history posit that the fish soup of Baja, which doesn’t require pounding, is the oldest variant, as it can be prepared in a shorter time and with fewer tools than the others. Nevertheless, about a hundred years ago the dominant use of paprika in Hungarian cuisine, still prevalent today, brought about major changes. With the appearance of urban restaurants and roadside inns, public taste changed once again. Today the thicker Szeged-style fish soup is more popular. Some fish restaurants have already responded to the challenge of the gastronomistas. They are now serving only completely freshly prepared fish soup. Try these at your own risk: you may have to wait an hour Május 9, 2014 ip AMcKIKA! tfagyar tfirlap or so before you get a plateful! visegradrevue.eu Hungarian Government Ruling One of the Churches Deregistered Enjoying a 2/3 majority in Parliament after being freshly reelected, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán took new steps to restrict religious freedom just weeks after the European Court of Human Rights ruled Hungary’s law on religion was in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights. Enacted in 2011, Hungary’s religion law stripped most religious communities in the country of legal status, and stipulated that future church status could only be bestowed by Parliament with a 2/3 majority vote. In April 2013 the European Court found that the law violated the right of religious freedom. In disregard of the Court’s decision, Hungarian Minister of Human Resources, Zoltán Balog, recently issued an official decision ruling one of the churches deregistered by the religion law, Church of God United Pentecostal Church (Isten Gyülekezete Egyesült Pünkösdi Egyház), unsuitable for legal recognition. Church of God United Pentecostal has been operating in Hungary since the early twentieth century and is affiliated with United Pentecostal Church International, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. In support of his decision, Minister Balog referred to an unnamed government appointed expert on religion, who declared in a written opinion that the Hungarian church’s relationship with United Pentecostal International was invalid. Church of God United Pentecostal Church in Hungary, which previously filed a lawsuit to prevent the government from liquidating its property, is appealing the Minister’s most recent decision, cerf-institute.org Highest Quality Care at the Best Price! Elderly, Rehabilitating, Children, Newborn Beszélünk magyarul is! Ingyenes konzultáció otthonában. Hívják Piroskát vagy Krisztinát! *♦ Hwr U—tiufttt K* if"«»» * teremi* <1 * !««■»< Companions Assistants (CNA. CJIUA) Nurses (RN, LVN) Newborn Nurses Nannies & Babysitters Group Child Care Live-in or Live-out Temporary or Permanent Qualified Äc Screened Flexible Payment Plans Most Insurances Accepted * Wwhr Cuo*. «t (.mg T«m Coe AdvantagePlusAgency.com Hungarian works win translation prize A Hungarian novel about art and creativity across space and time have won prizes for best translated books. László Krasznahorkai’s “Seiobo There Below,” translated by Ottilie Mulzet, won in the fiction category for the Best Translated Book Award. The author’s “Satantango” was last year’s fiction winner. Authors and translators will share $20,000 in prize money donated by Amazon.com. The awards were announced Monday by Three Percent, based at the University of Rochester and an online resource for international literature, washingtonpost.com Happy Mothers Day!
