Pope Francis arrives in Hungary at the end of April again. It is a good time to recall an interesting event of another similar visit 84 years ago. I show, what Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the later Pope Pius XII had for dinner in Budapest in 1938.
Astronauts of the only Soviet-Hungarian space mission ate the same as any Hungarian a lot of times during her or his lifetime: pörkölt.
Retro, retro, retro! You can taste the burger, which was young people’s favorite during the time of communism in Hungary. Funny but delicious. (Photograph: screenshot from Moszkva tér by Ferenc Török)
Would you like to see how a typical citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy has a lunch? Ok, let’s see some minutes of the movie ’Szinbád’ by Zoltán Huszárik with English subtitles.
No, I am not crazy! This is a relatively new type of the open-air cooking in Hungary. And we enjoy it. (Photographs: Kerékgyártó György)
I show one of my hangouts to you. We saw more fashion waves of the pub and restaurant business in Budapest from the end of the communism, Bavarian, Greek, Irish, Italian, Turkish, Chinese and other kind of buffets, taverns, bars were opened in succession, but my eternal favourite one is the Czech…
Today it is very simple to find a fast food restaurant in Budapest. In the past it was not the same. For example, the opening of the McDonald’s in the city in the last years of the communism was a real sensation. (1988, photograph: fortepan.hu)
Everybody like grilling in all over the world, but the Hungarians like standing around a cauldron for hours better. Why? I tell you. (Painting: Bogrács by Mihály Munkácsy, 1864; reproduction: Wikipedia)
What do you think I have found far from the city center of Budapest? Sometimes it is very useful to get on a train. Let me show something quite different to you! (Photograph: Kerékgyártó György)
Have you ever felt nostalgic for a funny, soggy dish? Hungarians have. I tell you the story of the meat with egg barley and I cook it for you. (On the picture: herders are cooking in their cauldron on the Hungarian Lowlands in 1942. Photograph: fortepan.hu)