Hungary's gastronomy is a large part of the traditional culture. It's considered spicy, sour and heavy. The most distinctive part of it is paprika, though onion, black pepper, garlic, tejföl (sour cream) and curd cheese are common ingredients too.
About the Hungarian cuisine
Hungarians love soups, meat, freshwater fish and dumplings. Pörkölt (stewed meat dish) is a typical Hungarian dish that is usually served with nokedli (dumplings made from flour and eggs, cooked in water), bread and pickles. Vegetables are often eaten in the form of pottages (főzelék) as a main course, as a "rakott" vegetable (casserole-type dish) or as a savanyúság (pickled vegetables) instead of a salad course. Lunch is the main meal of the day, usually consisting of three courses: soup is followed by a main dish and a dessert.
A great part of the traditional dishes are made of pork, as it was the main source of protein and the annual winter disznóvágás (pig slaughter or pig sticking) provided the meat. Disznóvágás is an old Hungarian tradition where they cut down the fed up pig and process its meat then have a large feast. It was an important event that brought the family together. Usually it was timed around the coldest days of winter so that they could preserve the perishable meet (as there were no fridges). This tradition is still practiced on the countryside. Many Hungarian foods and dishes originates from this tradition, such as the szalonna (all cuts of preserved pork that come from right under the animal’s skin, like belly, or jawl), hurka (sausage made originally from organ meats such as pork liver, lungs, head meat, rice and onions), kolbász (spicy cured sausage), szalámi (similar to kolbász but made without paprika and aged longer), tepertő or töpörtyű (pork crackling), disznósajt (spicy cooked then smoked pig head stuffed into the pi's cleaned stomach), fried blood with onions or the zsíros kenyér lilahagymával (bread spread with lard and red onion).
Some of the traditional dishes are the gulyás leves (or Goulash soup), halászlé (fish soup), húsleves (meat soup), Jókai bableves (bean soup Jókai style), hideg gyümölcs leves (cold fruit soup), marhapörkölt nokedlivel (beef stew with dumpling), csirkepaprikás (chicken paprikash), harcsapaprikás túrós csuszával (catfish paprikash with pasta and cottage cheese), lecsó (stewed onions, tomatoes and peppers), töltött káposzta (stuffed cabbage), paprikás krumpli (potatoes with paprika), rakott krumpli (layered potatoes with sausages, hars-boiled eggs and sour cream), Hortobágyi palacsinta (pancake filled with meat) and libamáj (foie gras).
Snacks and desserts
For breakfast, Hungarians often eat smaller pastries, like the sweet túrós batyu (pastry filled with sweet curd cheese) and kakaós csiga (cocoa or chocolate rolls). Bread with jam (usually plum, peach or strawberry) or körözött (salty curd cheese with paprika and caraway seeds) are popular options too.
Lángos is a delicious deep fried yeast-based bread dough, traditionally topped with garlic, sour cream and grated cheese. Then there's the pogácsa, a savoury scone, often varied with pork crackling, cheese, potato, curd cheese or cabbage.
On the sweeter side, the most famous desserts are the Dobos and Esterházy cakes, Gundel pancakes (filled with a walnut/rum mixture and smothered in dark-chocolate sauce), Rákóczi túrós (cake with apricot and cottage cheese), palacsinta (crepes), túrógombóc (cottage cheese dumplings with sour cream), aranygaluska (yeast rolls with walnut and vanilla custard), szilvás gombóc (potato-dough dumplings filled with plum), Somlói galuska (sponge cake with vanilla custrard, chocolate sauce, rum and raisins), mákos guba (dumplings with poppy seed), tejbegríz (Semolina porridge), bejgli (Christmas cake with walnut or poppy seed filling), zserbó (Gerbaud slice, cake with apricot jam, walnut in chocolate coating), szaloncukor (sweet Christmas fondant dipped in chocolate) and of course the kürtöskalács (chimney cake) and the Túró Rudi.
What to drink in Hungary?
First, how do you say 'cheers' in Hungarian? The word is 'Egészségedre!' which means to your (good) health. It's quite a mouthful, but try to pronounce egg-ess-shay-geh-dreh. Sometimes it's shortened to ‘egészség' or 'egs'. It's also rude not to look the other person in the eye while clincking glasses.
FUN FACT: When someone sneezes, Hungarians also say 'Egészségedre!'
Wine
Hungary is all about wine - you can drink quality wine at restaurants, bars and events, take wine-tasting tours at rustic wine cellars and large family-owned estates, even go to harvests and wine festivals, such as the Budapest Wine Festival, the Wine Week in Badacsony or the Etyek Piknik.
Winemaking has a long tradition in Hungary - it can be dated back to the Romans (likely even to the Celts). By the 17th century, the golden-hued sweet Tokaj aszú became well-known across Europe. Today there are 22 wine regions and many world-class wines. Some of the most famous are the Egri Bikavér (bull's blood), Egri Csillag (Star of Eger), Tokaji Aszú (called 'the wine of kings and the king of wines' by Louis XIV of France), Tokaj Furmint, Kadarka, Kékfrankos, Juhfark, Irsai Olivér, Cserszegi Fűszeres. Regarding the sparkling wines or pezsgő, the Törley, hungária and the Kreinbacher.
FUN FACT: The bull's blood is a full-bodied red wine from the Eger region. It's name comes from a legend that says it gave the Hungarians power to defeat the invading Turkish troops at the Battle of Eger in the 16th century.
Besides a traditional glass of wine, you can try multiple local variations too. A fröccs or Spritzer is considered a national drink and best to drink at the summer heat. The classic fröccs (nagyfröccs) is a mixture of 2 dl dry white wine and 1 dl club soda, though today rosé fröccs is quite popular too. There are many combinations, such as the kisfröccs (1:1) the hosszúlépés (1 wine: 2 soda), the viceházmester (2 wine: 3 soda) or the Krúdy-föccs (9 wine:1 soda). For the winter cold, try a cup of spicy and hot mulled wine which is an essential part of the Christmas fairs. Then there's the VBK or vörösboros kóla (red wine with Coke) which we all know is a sin, since why would you ruin a good wine but it's surprisingly okay.
Beer
Hungarian beer is also available and quite cheap with varying quality, like the Soproni, Borsodi, Arany Ászok, Dreher, though it's best to avoid the Kőbányai, which is a cheap beer from the Soviet era. Today most of the Hungarian lager brands are produced by larger companies like Heineken, Coor or Asahi, though we still count them as Hungarian beers. There are more and more beer bars around Budapest with a good variety of handcrafted beers, such as Élesztő, KEG or Hopaholic.
Note that, traditionally Hungarians don't clink with beer glasses as Austrian generals celebrated the defeat of the Hungarian revolution against the Habsburgs in 1849 by clinking their beer glasses. Hungarians vowed not to cheers with beer for 150 years and some keep this tradition to this day.
Unicum
Unicum is an iconic Hungarian herbal liqueur from 40 herbs and spices, aged in oak casks for 6 months. It resembles to Jägermeister with a unique aftertaste. It was first produced by Dr. József Zwack Royal Physician to the Imperial Court of Emperor and Hungarian King Joseph II in 1790, originally developed as a medicine for stomach ailments. According to the anecdote, the name comes from the emperor who took a sip and exclaimed: 'Das is ein Unicum!'. Currently, the sixth generation of the Zwack family guards the recipe and if you want to know more, you can visit the Zwack Museum in Budapest.
Pálinka
The other national drink of Hungary is the pálinka. It's a potent fruit brandy distilled from various fermented fruit such as plum, apricot, pear and cherry. Pálinka is not for the fain-hearted - the weakest version of it is 37% but a homemade brew can be as strong as 80-90%! It's a customary aperitif and welcome drink at family gatherings and it's also said to be good for everything from different sicknesses to hangover (though we're a bit sceptical).
DID YOU KNOW? The pálinka name is protected by EU law, and can only be produced in Hungary from fruit grown within the country’s borders.
That's the Hungarian cuisine in a nutshell. Hope you'll find this guide helpful and try as many of the listed drinks and dishes as many you can!
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