Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1987-08-01 / 8. szám
EGON RÓNAY recoils the delights of notional and regional cuisines behind the Iron Curtain. When Soviet Russia startlingly introduced a measure of private enterprise recently, restaurants were specifically mentioned in the shortlist of possible ventures. That is exactly what happened in Hungary. When I visited it in 1983, 37 years after I had emigrated, most restaurants were state-run. The once-brilliant catering standards had sadly deteriorated. So much so that when a friend of mine took her English husband on his first trip to Budapest in the Seventies and patiently asked an old waiter to suggest a dish that wasn't "off", he gave her a lugubrious look and said, "Lady, if I were you, I wouldn't eat here!" Eventually, capitalist-style auctions were advertised in the press and many hitherto state-owned restaurants were leased to the highest bidders. The improvement in cooking and service has been spectacular. Nationally or regional cuisine is a manifestation of the culture and civilization of a people, and when these change radically or disappear, cuisine, too. can be lost. Rumania is another example: it is one of the worst countries for food, but only in recent times. Yet traditional Transylvanian cuisine is, in my view, one of the three greatest (after the French and Chinese). But Rumania has ruled Transylvania MEMBERSHIP IN THE HUNGARIAN EIGHTH TRIBE FOUNDATION P.O. Box 637, Ligonier, PA 15658 I/we wish t>o be a member of the Hungarian Eighth Tribe Foundation. — Membership: $10.00 per year. Name____________________________________________ Address____________________________________ City __________________State ______Zip________ HUNGARIAN EIGHTH TRIBE FOUNDATION P.O. Box 637, Ligonier, PA 15658 Forwarding—Return Postage Guaranteed Address Correction Requested since 1918 and tended to suppress the culture of the 2-1/2m strong Hungarian minority to whom Transylvania had belonged for over 1,000 years. Transylvanian cuisine, which used to reflect the culture of the mostly Hungarian but also Walachian, Saxon, Armenian communities has been almost destroyed. But at least It Is on record. Paul Kovl, the Transylvanian co-owner of New York celebrated Four Seasons Restaurant, has made annual research trips to his homeland for 20 years, collecting recipes from village to village, where Bartók and Kodály collected their folk-song motifs. His outstanding book, practical and warm-hearted, was published in America in 1985: Transylvanian Cuisine (Crown publishers, NY $15.95). I recall nostalgically the wonderful aromas and flavours of Transylvanian cooking (in the Thirties my mother opened the only Transylvanian restaurant in Budapest): richness without heaviness, exceptionally generous and imaginative use of herbs and spices (e.g. thyme, dill, saffron and ginger), a variety of scones and succulent baked pastries, particularly the cuisine's local Jewish consituent, fruit soups and sauces, and aubergine (locally called Turkish tomatoes). The use of ginger and dishes like the blend of cabbage, pork and sweetriver crayfish indicate Chinese influence (Transylvania lay on an ancient trade route). The early 17th-century appearance of black coffee - then also used as a thickening agent! - reflects the country's contemporary connections with the Ottoman Porte. Cookery books go back to 1604 and many can be found, for example, at the Armenian monastery on the island of San Lazzaro in Venice, or in the famous private library of another expatriate restauranteur, in Chicago, Louis Szathmáry, which contains some 350 books on this subject alone. Many American Hungarians are passing away without an heir. Their wealth, properties, savings and insurance policies will revert to the states in which they are residing. If you, or someone you know, are in this situation, please inform that person about his or her option to name the Hungarian Eighth Tribe Foundation as their respective heirs. BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID Ligonier, PA Permit No. 47 ■----------S MO VI VG? nsá TELL US YOUR NEW 1IPh\ ADDRESS-NOW. Mb MP) -feToH oífoj 2Sr’p^sulaQlrSontra S0Uth No^Í?C(ol (Roc JULY/AUGUST, 1987
