Hungary Or Not Hungary? Part I.

When one born in Hungary moves to the US, certain differences are expected to be seen.  These are not the differences many I've met might think about.  Like, do we have electricity over there.  Or if we have TV and such.  Basically stupid questions only ignorant people ask.  I ignore those as it's not even worth my time to try to satisfy their undereducated curiosity.  Many of those don't even know where my country is, or that it even exists.  Mind blowing, isn't it.  The infamous video comes to mind, in which country music singer Kellie Pickler shamelessly admits her not existing knowledge of the World.  I had a model ask me once, if my country was in Africa.  No comment.  She clearly had no idea where Eastern Europe was.

 Then again do we really talk about Eastern Europe when mentioning Hungary?  According to my patriotic sister it's located in Central Europe.  Which I'm not gonna fight against as I haven't argued with her since we were teenagers.  What is wrong with belonging to Eastern Europe anyways?  I don't see the big deal.  But for Hungarians it's not an attractive statement.  When you look up online, you find that Hungary is in the heart of Europe between East and West.  Which is kind of weird as it's geographic location pulls more towards the East.  And the middle is more like Austria.  But again common knowledge explains Hungary as an Eastern European country.  Like it or not.

 The questions I get sometimes when i'm visiting my home country is this: How is life in the US?  I figure they expect me to say, it's wonderful, i'm so happy, everything is perfect, life is easy.  I'm lucky to say that it's pretty much the description of my current life.  But I always have to add, that it is not glamorous for all.  There are many poor, jobless and struggling people here as well as in any other place.  People work for their money every day to put food on the table.  There are problems, issues and daily complications with life.  And yes, there might be more opportunities here then in a small village in Russia, but you still have to work to make things happen. Things don't just fall on your lap.

 All though I have to say opportunities are a big part of being successful.  People always say, if an opportunity presents itself you must jump.  Yeah, but what happens if opportunities don't present themselves?  You just hang out?  I have a bunch of aspiring actress friends.  Some from the US some from other places.  I can definitely see the difference in how one growing up in LA have more open windows towards the entertainment industry then the other from abroad.  Most of them in the US were part of some drama class by the age of 5, were seen in various commercials and acted as child actors.  There was no drama class in my town.  It was a freaking communist country back then.  We had to learn Russian and Hungarian folk dance.  Didn't have the chance to watch Hollywood movies, we felt lucky if something came in from Austria.  Don't feel bad!  I had a very happy childhood.  I'm just saying.  If I wanted to pursue acting in big international movies, I would've had to jump over a couple of  more obstacles, then just deciding about which agent to choose.  After all many of today's movie stars were born and raised in LA, even went to Beverly Hills High School.  What an advantage presented at your feet.  I'm not saying even a talentless brat would've made it, but come on!  I remember Charlize Theron's acceptance speech at the Oscars.  She got up there and the first thing she said: "Oh my God, I'm from South Africa!"  She was completely shocked, and I felt her amazement.  All though she didn't have to get through the language barrier.  Which is the biggest problem for aspiring actors from around the World trying to make it in Hollywood.  So many talents get wasted, just because you were born in the wrong place in the wrong time.  And for you it might take 20 years or more to fight yourself out of it just to be in a position were others simply born into.  Plus you have to speak at least one more language other then yours.  Needless to say this statement goes to any other profession, not just acting.

 Growing up in Hungary you hear a lot of youngsters talk about how they trying to get out, and make it in the capital or even in one of the Western countries.  GET OUT!  This expression bothers me.  It sounds so alarming.  Like there's an immediate threat.  I never felt the need to get out.  I always liked where I lived, and certainly had high hopes from life, but still never wanted to get out.  I just left.  Not because I planned to.  I had an opportunity, I took it and it took me around the World landing me in the US.  I still have friends in Hungary who want to 'get out'.  Even though they have a great life and success.  They still don't see the country side of a small Eastern European country as the place for their future.  Of course I understand.  I couldn't either.  At least not now.  I've seen too much, can't go back.  But that doesn't mean life can't be good there.  Happiness is relative.  I have another friend who is complaining about how all the young people leave, instead of trying to make it there.  What happens if everyone leaves.  A country which at one point was regarded as one of the cultural centers of the Western World will end up being a place for old retirees.  Kind of sad and scary.  She thinks people should stay and make this country a better place.  Fight for the memory of Hungary, which for more then 900 years was a great power in history.  I agree with her, of course i do.  No matter how far away I am, where I live, at heart I will always remain true to my nation.  We have good food!

Meat, Meat and more Meat

 Not only for my fellow Hungarians, but for anyone who is hungry for some meat, and adventurous enough to try some tasty goodness from my homeland I recommend The Hungarian Meat Market.  Not only because it's pretty much the only one in whole NY, but because it's really good.

 Surprisingly wide variety of goodies.  Several different types of bacon.  Fresh as well as dry sausages (Gyulai) range from spicy to mild.  Head cheese which is one of my favorite, all though I know it can be a bit scary for the ones not used to pork jelly and fat.  They also carry töpörtyű or also called tepertő, which is basically fried pork (also make it from goose) skin dried with some meat and fat still attached to it.  It's some pretty heavy stuff.  Also found in Mexican cuisine, but it's called chicherones.  Same thing but in bigger cuts then the Hungarian version.  They also sell tepertős pogácsa, which is a kind of bread snack made of the tepertő.  I know it sounds weird, but it actually tastes great freshly baked with bacon bits.

 Diós-mákos beigli is another favorite.  Especially baked for Christmas festivities, but here you can find it year around.  It's basically rolled up pastry filled with mák (poppy seed) or dió (grounded walnut).

 Then there's the famous Hungarian paprika from Szeged (an old city at the SE tip of the country) or from Kalocsa ( 80 miles south of Budapest). I have to mention some of the home made goodness they have refrigerated.  Goulash (which is actually spelled gulyas) and stuffed cabbage, as well as fresh savanyú káposzta, which is basically sauerkraut.  They apparently make some of the stuff in the back, but they also have an outlet in New Jersey.  The family owned joint has been there since the 50's.  Walking in you'll be welcomed by friendly Hungarians, who'll give you a taste of anything before purchase.

 The only thing I really wish they had is túró rudi, which is a very popular sweet snack filled with cottage cheese and covered with chocolate.  The only version they carry is some similar stuff from Russia, obviously doesn't look or taste the same.  Not even close.  I understand the difficulties of importing food goods from a foreign country, and i appreciate the stuff they already have.

 They are located on the upper east side on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 81st.  You won't miss it, there's a huge picture of old grandpa cooking up gulyas on the side of the building.  Everytime I go there, my heart warms up of the colorful sight of such wonderful food that my homeland has created for centuries. So go with an open mind and a hungry stomach.  Enjoy!

Introduction

Food!  Let's discuss the basic importance of food in our everyday lives without getting too philosophical.

If you look up the word food in Wikipedia you'll see the basic definition: the intake of any substance or materials eaten or drunk to provide nutritional support for the body or for PLEASURE.  My interest is clearly in the last part of the sentence.  I didn't accidentally hit the caps lock key on my keyboard before writing down the word pleasure.  I happily admit I am in the group of people that "live to eat" instead of just "eat to live".  I'm not saying that the nutritional value of food is not important, or that we shouldn't all think about what we are putting into our bodies on a daily basis, counting calories and looking up the amount of sugar on the back of every packaged good.  It's all good and useful and I will definitely get into the matter later on, but first and foremost I have to talk about the absolute and pure pleasure of food.  I mean any kind of food from appetizers, salads, veggies, pork fat, sweets and delicious fruits to meat dishes, pickles, fish, pasta al dente, the fantastic and never ever replaceable bread.  We all secretly love bread.  It's one of the few food item that we all share in our culture, let it be pita, nan, pumpernickel or my all time favorite crispy, freshly baked white bread).

Unfortunately I can't recall my first experience with food, which was probably some mashed up carrots or random baby food (which actually is very tasty and I remember really getting into it at a later age when some relative around me had a baby and I took a bite out of curiosity).  In Hungary food is a very interesting, exciting, and often quite frightening experience.  The hardships of war and history is truly embedded in our culinary culture, with 'easy to cook in bulk' items such as potato, bean and of course lots of white bread, with the occasional meat.  Which back then was only eaten on holidays or very special occasions, as food wasn't an option more like a necessity, let alone luxury like it is today in some places.  I'm extremely proud to belong to a nation with such a huge variety of dishes, in fact I'm not afraid to say that my mother can cook a different meal every day for a year and still not run out of options.

Needless to say this is one of the reasons why there is no real need to eat other type of food while living in Hungary, as there is very little chance you'll ever get bored of it.  I - for example - didn't really eat anything else other then Hungarian cuisine until I was about 17 years old.  I occasionally had tried Greek, Italian, and German food while vacationing with my family, but on an everyday basis really just eat my mom's and grandma's home cooking.

I remember I was 18 when I had the fortune of traveling to Japan for the first time.  I was absolutely shocked when walking around the supermarket and not finding a single item I could recognize by it's appearance or ingredients.  Eventually I bought a giant apple (btw they have the biggest apples ever, with the cute individual wrapping on them) and some weird packaged pastry.  I had tried sushi and I hated it.  I could not imagine how raw fish can be appetizing for anybody, it looked and tasted disgusting to me at that point.  Of course little did I know that very soon it would become one of my favorite cuisines.

It always amazes me how taste can change with time.  When I was little I used to hate certain things that now I absolutely love.  It wasn't really that I didn't try it, I just didn't like the way it tasted.  Other times it wasn't my preference that changed, more the fact that the cuisine was way too unfamiliar and alien to me.   Trying it several times I'd discover the new flavor and often would become obsessed with it.

I'm sure we all went through that with many dishes.   This makes me realize that loving some food and not others is sometimes not about taste and the question of 'like it or not', but more about how adventurous one is willing to be when it comes to trying new cuisines.  I can gladly say that I'm definitely the adventurous type, not only willing to try new stuff but even go and travel in search of interesting flavors.  Needless to say that I'm obsessed with Andrew Zimmern and his Bizzare Foods around the World, and would love to see him come to Hungary and check out the weird cuisine we have, cuz I'm telling you, some of the stuff we eat you wouldn't even wanna look at, that's how funky our food is.

I say I will taste anything once, and if I can't keep it down I give up.  At least I can say I tried it, and know how it tastes.  I had the same adventurous thought in mind when I traveled through Tokyo with my boyfriend Jason last December. A type of fish caught his attention at the first class lounge at Narita Airport called marinated cod roe, he immediately urged me to have a bite as he was placing a piece on his plate already.  I took it, I put a whole piece in my mouth and after the first chew I spit it out into my napkin.  Marinated cod roe is basically a piece of sushi made of the eggs from mature female fish, which one might think is not a big deal as we eat caviar, but I'm telling you this was the fishiest most disgusting thing I've eaten so far, which is to me a big deal, as I can take down pretty much anything.  This I couldn't.  The fermented fishy flavor of the cod roe made my eyes tear up, and left an awful taste in my mouth for hours, while Japanese business men - and Jason - were eating it away for BREAKFAST.