Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1982. január-június (36. évfolyam, 1-25. szám)

1982-06-03 / 22. szám

Thursday, June 3. 1982.

AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZO

11.

Mi kell a hosszabb

Gourmet's Guide to Hungary

egészségesebb élethez?

A New York környéki New Hyde Parkban az öregkornak egészségével foglalkozó Jewish Institute for Geriatric Care vezetője, Dr. Leslie S. Libow, j interjúban hozzá feltett kérdésekre a következők- , ben válaszolt.

Várható, hogy az élettartam meghosszabbodik, : de csak kis mértékben, Ha a rákbetegség teljesen < gyógyítható lenne es ha az erelmeszesedest vissza tudnák fordítani, három vagy négy evvel meghosz- szabodna az átlagos élettartam. Mi, öregkoruakkal foglalkozók, nem annyira az élettartam meghosz- szabbitására, mint az öregkori elet megjavitásara helyezzük a hangsúlyt.

A jelenlegi nyugalomba vonultak aktívabbak, mint az azelőttiek voltak. Többet várnak magúktól úgy fizikai, mint szellemi tevékenységekben. Általában az öregkornak valamivel jobban táplálkoznak és mentesebbek a fertőzó betegségektől, azonkívül olyan orvosi technológiai fejlemények, mint a pacemaker, lehetővé teszik, hogy több időskorú aktívabb életet élhessen.

A helyes táplálkozás fontos, de az meg nem egészen világos, hogy a normálisnál nagyobb testsúly megröviditi-e az életet. Ez nem jelenti azt, hogy mindenki szaladjon süteményeket es edessegeket enni, hanem csak azt, hogy a kissé túlsúlyban levők esetleg tovább élhetnek, mint a túl soványak. Csak azok próbáljanak lefogyni, akik túl kövérek, vagy túl sok súlyuk miatt kényelmetlenül érzik magukat.

Szakértők ma már egyetértenek abban, hogy ha az emberek már fiatal korukban es később megszoknék, hogy kevesebb koleszterint és finomított cukrokat tartalmazó ételeket egyenek, kevesbe lennének kitéve szívrohamnak, vagy agvszélhüdesnek. Ha azonban valaki már elmúlt 65, vagy 70 eves, akkor már a koleszterin-szegény diéta nem sokat számit. Ugyanigy, a bizonyítékok azt is mutatják, hogy a rostokban bővelkedő ételek fogyasztása — több gyümölcs, fó'zelek és gabonafélék evése — segít a vércukrot jobb egyensúlyban tartani, különösen azoknál, akik cukorbajra hajlamosak. Másodsorban az is mutatkozik, hogv olyan bel rendelleneségek, mint a székrekedés, sót meg a rak is, ritkábban fordulnak elő azoknál, akik hosszú idő óta rostos ételeket esznek.

Semmi kétség nincs az iránt, hogy a testgyakorlat javítja a közérzetet és az élet minőséget is. Akármilyen fajta testgyakorlat úgy a legjobb* ha azt fiatal korban kezdjük. A 40 éven felüliek ne kezdjenek el erőteljesebb testgyakorlatokat, u.m. kocogást, teniszezést, biciklizést, úszást vagy táncolást az orvos beleegyezése nélkül. Kellő felügyelettel, ahol öregkoruaknak tartanak fizikai aktivitási programokat, meg 70 eves korban is el lehet kezdeni mérsékelt testgyakorlatokat. A rendszeres fizikai tevékenységnek sok köze van a vérnyomás mérsékléséhez és talán még a vérkoleszterin csökkenéséhez is, melyek mind csökkenthetik a szív és artériás betegségek előfordulását.

FOLYTATJUK

By R. «. APPLE Jr.

ded in a mortar and served as a condiment.

The omnipresence of the paprika in modern Hungary is a reminder of one of the saddest episodes in the country’s history, the Turkish conquest in 1526. For 150 years, the Turks ruled most of Hungary and raised in their gardens the peppers they had imported from India via Persia. When they left, the paprika stayed and worked its way into a position of dominance in the cuisine the Magyar nomads had brought with them from Asia.

Outside Hungary, the dish with which Hungary is indelibly associated, and which constitutes the main Hungarian contribution to that dubious entity known as “intemationa' cuisine,” is gulyás or goulash. Many yee-s ago. Karoly Gundel, probably Hungary's greatest chef, wrote that ‘‘without wishing to offend my colleagues abroad, I feel obliged to state that with few exceptions they ruin this excellent dish." His stricture is no less valid today; beef goulash is to Hungarian cooking as chicken curry is to Indian cooking. Gulyas is a soup, not a stew; it contains no flour, no sour cream, no thickening of any kind. In its pristine form, it contains beef or pork, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, water or stock, tiny bits of pasta called csipetke, salt and sweet paprika. A fancier version might contain sliced green peppers and caraway seeds. It is never, ever, served with rice.

If you crave a goulash-like dish as a main course, order a pörkölt or a tokany. A paprikas is similar, too, except that here the meat is likely to be veal or chicken or lamb, and the sauce will be amply laced with sour cream. But my favorite is a dish called Transylvanian stuffed cabbage, or sometimes stuffed cabbage in the style of Kolozsvár, a town in Transylvania. Transylvania is the most Hungarian part of Hungary, and stuffed cabbage seems to me the most Hungarian and succulent of Hungarian dishes — cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, pork, bacon and spices, plus sauerkraut mixed with onions, paprika and sour cream, assembled on a platter with a smoked sausage, a slice of cured loin of pork and a piece of pork belly. No dieter’s delight, but utterly irresistible as a sequel to a bowl of gulyás and a prelude to a piece of pastry.

Now a word or two on other specialties to try (for restaurants, see box). The Hungarians make other superb soups in addition to gulyás, notably palóc leves, a surprisingly light combination of mutton (or, better, filet of beef), green beans and sour cream; Jókai bean soup, which contains kidney beans and heavily smoked ham, and, in summer,

meggy leves, a chilled blend of morello cherries and sour cream. The roast goose and duck are memorable, and be sure, if you see it on a menu, to order fatanyeros, a mixed grill served on a wood platter. Finally, the fogas from Lake Balaton, Europe’s largest lake, is an exemplary freshwater fish, firm of texture and mild of taste; it .is a relative of the pike-perch, little known in the United States, but called sandre in French and zander in German, if that is any help.

• • •

You will not lack for things to drink with all of this. The Hungarians sometimes take as an aperitif a glass of the brandy made from their apricots, Europe’s best. Called barack, it is worth trying, but to my infidel tastes, it is better after a meal than before, and the locals won’t object if you order a Campari. Harder to find is an excellent eau de vie, similar to the Yugoslav slivovitz, made under the supervision of local rabbis, which is called Kosher szilva.

Among the table wines, I would avoid Egri Bikaver (“Bull’s Blood”), the heavily promoted red; according to local experts, it varies widely and is often more Algerian or Bulgarian or Moroccan than Hungarian. Try instead the Pinót Noir or Burgundy from Villanyi, Hungary’s southernmost city. Among the whites, I suggest the richly flavored Kéknyelű (literally, “blue stem”) from Badacsony, a basaltic hill on the north shore of Lake Balaton, or the softer, somewhat more deeply colored wine of nearby Csopak.

On no account overlook Tokaji Aszú, the syrupy sweet wine, famous for generations, which owes its character to the same “noble rot” that produces great Sauternes. The slightly oxidized taste, often described as reminiscent of bitter chocolate, is unique. Its sweetness is measured by the number of seven-gallon hods of shriveled, berry-like grapes that are added to a barrel of natural Tokay wine; the sweetest is marked “5 puttonyos.”

Finally, the visitor should go to the Hungária (née New York) Cafe, a riot of rococo décor where the mediocrity of the food is more than compensated by the menu. Inside its front cover is a time-machine celebrity register, with the signatures of long-forgotten actors, actresses and other notables, including, believe it or not, those of Rod La Rocque and Maria Jeritza. ■

R. W. APPLE Jr. is chief of the London bureau of The Times.

let us learn Hungarian

ART EXPO ’82- WHERE IS THE ARTIST’S HEART?

Dressing. Clothes Öltözködés. Ruházat

She looks very pretty [smart] in her new

dress.

He dresses well.

She wore a lilac townecked evening dress.

What shall / wear?

Shall I wear a black suit [dress]?

Evening dress is optional.

I have to go home to change.

I'll pul on my best dress [suit].

How do yon like it?

It goes well with yellow [bine].

You're too lightly dressed.

Put on something warm.

It's very cold today, you had better put on an overcoat.

It looks like rain, lake your mack(intosh).

Is this jacket [dress] lailor-made or readymade?

This suit [dress] stands hard wear and tear well.

Nagyon csinos [divat- az új ruhájában.

Jól öltözik.

Egy kivágott nyakú orgonalila estélyi ri:K volt rajta.

Mit vegyek fel?

Fekete ruhát vegyek fel?

Esté'yi ruha nem kötelező.

Haza kell mennem átöltözni.

A legjobb ruhámat veszem fel.

Hogy tetszik (léceik)'!

Jó! illik a sárgához [kékhez].

Túl könnyen van öltözve.

Vegyen fel valami meleget I

Hideg van ma, jobb lenne, ha kabátot venne fel.

Esőre áll, vegyen ballont I

Csináltatott vagy készen vett zakó [ruha] ez?

Ez az öltöny [ruha] j; bírja a napi strapü'.

Sterile beauty dominated the offerings of major U.S. and international dealers at the Coliseum's Art Expo ‘82 •

Artists skills were in the main sophisticated •variations of abstract formaline-color tantalizing senses with cold emotion.

Lost was the powerful impact of the theme of people, their agonies-ecstasies, their lives and customs dignified with meaning. Perhaps, this was partly due to the noticeable absence of many nati - ons artwork (i.e Asia, Africa, Far-East, Near-East, Caribbean and South America).

What has happened to artists? They always lead the way for culture and enliehtenment! Has the dilemma of technology versus humanity caused this loss of hearing - or - is it the co-opting by the marketplace?

The heart and mind of the artist should be free and many who are so working are yet to be seen and heard.

It seems to me this the challenge! | ^

ÚJÍTSA MEG ELŐFIZETÉSÉT

No prudent man or woman would travel to Eastern Europe in anticipation of dining well.

Hungary is the great exception, in this as in « many other things. The Hungarians are »m eaters, born waiters, bom restaura- eurs. Some of their patrons may not know it, tut the Four Seasons in Manhattan and the lakery in Chicago are run by Hungarians, as s the more obviously ethnic haunt of politi- :ians and journalists in London, the Gay Hus- lar. Britain’s leading food critic, Egon Rónay, is Hungarian by birth; his family ran Ive of Budapest’s leading restaurants before Vorld War II. So is George Lang, New York’s eading consultant on restaurant concepts md design, who owns the Cafe des Artistes, rear Lincoln Center.

The state runs most of the restaurants in Hungary these days, and it controls most igricultural output. In all honesty, one must xmcede that the consistency of the cooking isn’t what it was in the days of the Haps- Durgs. But it is still one of Europe’s most individual cuisines, well worth the trip to Budapest to sample in its unadulterated form, dong with other Hungarian delights.

• • •

Hungarian cooking is based on lard, anions, garlic and sour cream, which are combined in various ways with pork, beef, freshwater fish and poultry — the country produces wonderful chickens, ducks and geese — as well as game. (More of the boar, venison, frogs’ legs and snails on Parisian menus come from Hungary than the French would ever admit, thanks to the industry and talent of the Hungarian peasantry, which produces enough food for home use and export while farmers in Poland, the Soviet Union and Rumania find it impossible to keep the shelves in their own countries filled.)

But the soul of Hungarian cooking is the pepper, or paprika, as it is known in the Magyar language. What we call the bell pepper comes in Hungary in ivory, yellow, green or red, depending on the season, and it is stuffed, sliced into stews and pickled. Smaller varieties, shaped but not flavored the same way as their North American counterparts, are ground into the spice we call paprika, which in Hungary has a sweet, gentle piquancy and a brilliant red color that American commercial versions conspicuously lack. The best comes from south-centra] Hungary, especially the towns of Kalocsa and Szeged, (n addition, a fiery pepper called cherry paprika, shaped as its name suggests, is shred-