Archive 2008

Waiter, There's a Farm in My Soup!

By A. Alipio

Nothing transports me back to rural Hungary quicker than a bowl of goulash. Unlike the stew Americans know, real goulash is a soup containing a farm’s bounty in miniature: beef, onions, and potatoes. Liberal sprinklings of the national spice, paprika, tint the broth a rich orange-red, echoing a fine summer sunset out on Hungary’s Great Plain.

At the Hungarian Open Air Museum, I saw gulyás (Hungarian for goulash) cooked outside, in a kettle over a fire—much as shepherds tending herds on the Great Plain made it. Sitting down at one of the wooden tables with a big bowl of goulash, I dipped my spoon into a comforting, tasty Hungarian harvest. The 113-acre museum in the town of Szentendre, the most popular day-trip destination out of Budapest, preserves traditional village houses transplanted from all over the country and keeps rural customs alive.

Alas, goulash is no longer served here, but you can get your fill back in Budapest.

"I shared the requisite toast to good appetite —jó étvágyot!—with the ghosts of Magyar cowboys, then dipped my spoon into the hearty soup for a taste of Hungary.