Hungarian cuisine

Hungarian cuisine is characterized by dishes that are prepared with red pepper, tomatoes and capsicum (the famous Hungarian goulash soup, chicken paprikash with dumplings and stuffed cabbage leaves), as well as onion. The well-known sort of onion called 'mako' is grown in the suburbs of Kaluch, a city in the southern part of Hungary. The meat used most often is pork. However, recently more and more fish and chicken has been consumed, i.e. products that contain less cholesterol – this indicates the global trend of awareness of people about the contents of what they eat. Almost all national dishes in Hungary have paprika as the major ingredient, for example the goulash soup (a dish that is somewhere between a thick soup and a ragout), perekelt (ragout in which the main ingredient is fine-cut onion), and paprikash (paprikash is basically any meal that has a sour-cream sauce and paprika), meat soups made of pork.

The national Hungarian spice is paprika, although it has not always been a matter of the national pride. It was brought here by Turks and spread all over the country only about a century ago. Paprika is grown mainly in southern parts of the country. Hungarian paprika has about ten different officially acknowledged flavors. It can be pink, sweet, fiery, piquant etc.

Winemaking is another source of pride for Hungarians, as its history is more than 2000 years old. In different times the Hungarian winemaking was under the influence of Italian, Spanish and French influence.