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Goulash gluttons nation Hungary learns fine cuisine
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Goulash gluttons nation Hungary learns fine cuisine
AFP - Friday, September 18
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Chef of the Onyx Restaurant, Tamas Szell, poses for a photo in his restaurant in Budapest. While Hungary's most important addition to world cuisine, the goulash, is known around the globe, Magyar gastronomy is yet far from the top-of-the-list rank proud Hungarians think it holds.
BUDAPEST (AFP) - – Magyar gastronomy, known around the world for its goulash, never had the standing Hungarians believed it deserved, but young chefs trained abroad are starting to change that.
"There is a huge gap between the picture we have of our 'world famous' and 'world class' cuisine and the reality," said Tamas B Molnar, head of the Hungarian Gastronomy Association, a grouping of chefs, culinary writers, intellectuals and celebrities aiming to reform the country's gastronomic culture.
Indeed, five out of six Hungarians quizzed in downtown Budapest insisted that Magyar goulash, paprika chicken and pork stew had shot the national cuisine to the top of the international rankings decades ago -- a belief shared by most of their compatriots.
The grim reality, however, is a painful lack of quality ingredients, educated palates and skilled and innovative chefs, according to Molnar.
His view is confirmed by two chefs who, along with Molnar and his gastronomy group, have set out on a mission to change the goulash landscape.
"Not even (renowned French chef Paul) Bocuse could cook a good meal without good ingredients," said Molnar.
However, in order to get good ingredients, Hungarian restaurants need to search beyond the country's borders, as the desired variety and quality of products is unavailable at home.
"Vegetables and as much as 90 percent of the meat come from abroad," estimated Viktor Segal, the 41-year-old chef of the stylish Stand Bistro in downtown Budapest.
Segal spent 13 years abroad, working in top restaurants in Lyon and Paris before returning to Budapest five years ago to serve quality Asian-Western fusion meals.
His colleague Tamas Szell at the more upscale Onyx restaurant in the city centre, struggles with the same lack of quality tomatoes and beef.
But he sees signs of improvement, partly thanks to Molnar's efforts to bring together conscientious producers and top chefs.
"I hope that the choice of good ingredients will expand. But I also expect an understanding public to develop sooner or later," the 26-year-old head-chef said, pointing at another sensitive issue in the local culinary scene: the customer.
"Over the last few decades, Hungarians have turned into a nation of gluttons, where eating a lot is a kind of manly virtue," Molnar said.
Szell agreed: locals tend to prefer a filling one-course meal and frown upon delicate tasting menus served on designer plates.
Also, Hungarians like to gobble down their meal quickly, without waiting too long.
Although it is difficult nowadays to get a table in Stand at lunchtime, it took a while for guests to understand that fresh food takes time to be prepared.
"Unlike elsewhere, where gastronomy is understood as part of a nation's cultural heritage, people here still go to the restaurant primarily to eat, not to absorb culture," Onyx chef Szell remarked.
Thanks to a group of well-travelled gourmets however, Hungary's restaurant scene has started to emerge from the sea of goulash and heaps of deep fried ham-filled pork that make tourists worry about their waistline.
"Hungarians coming back from great restaurants abroad have started to look for the same treats at home too, and I really believe it is thanks to them that a few years ago the scene started to improve," Segal said.
Fresh spices, new interpretations of old cookbooks, fusion cuisine: the new approaches are mostly employed by a young generation of Hungarian chefs who often spend months abroad and return with higher standards.
"The training remains deplorable, yet teachers who have been giving the same instructions to their apprentices for 35 years are reluctant to revisit their guiding principles," Molnar reflected.
But there is hope.
According to the Hungarian restaurant and wine guide, a listing compiled annually after rigourous testing by Molnar and his partners, about a dozen venues now have standards worthy of a Michelin star -- the French culinary recognition for the best restaurants worldwide.
Hungary has yet to receive its first star but the chefs and experts agree: in a decade its gastronomic reality will be much closer to what is now only wishful thinking by its citizens.
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