in the market
Aug 19 '09
Low-Cost Lidl Lamb Chops Win Big Prize for Summer Grill Surprise
September may be just around the corner, but there's still plenty of Hungarian summer left to savor. And what better way to do it than with a little grilling? While there hasn't been much grill news around this summer,...
Apr 10 '09
Hungarian Government Declares War on Foreign Food
One of the reasons posting has been very light as of late is that we've been distracted by all the ongoing political and economic dramas taking place in Hungary. And now it looks like a return to our normal...
Feb 27 '09
Customs Seizes Several Tons of "High-End" Seafood in Budapest
Customs officials followed a tip and raided the freezer of a Chinese owned business in Budapest's District VIII, origo.hu reported. 2.5 tons of contraband high-end seafood and river fish, including lobster, king prawns, shrimp and shellfish were discovered. The business...
Nov 17 '08
I'll Have a Kilo of… Oh, Never Mind
Just when you thought your culinary Hungarian was getting good enough for eating out or shopping in local markets without embarrassing yourself, along comes this shocker of a pic, which we snagged from local blog Subba. Apparently some heritage-minded...
Oct 02 '08
Hungary "Mostly Free" of Tainted Chinese Milk Powder
Examinations are underway to determine whether a Chinese candy known as white rabbit, which was marketed in Budapest, contained milk powder contaminated with melamine, a substance harmful to the kidneys. According to Origo.hu, the Chinese manufacturer of the candy announced...
Sep 30 '08
Companies See Green in Plan to Get Hungarians to Eat their Veggies
It's no secret that, for people who inhabit a country rich in all kinds of agriculture, Hungarians don't eat their fair share of fruits and vegetables. In fact, according to the latest statistics, the average Hungarian eats fewer than 400...
Sep 19 '08
Culinaris Opens Third Gourmet Store; Putting Final Touches on "Second Fastest" Restaurant in Budapest
Anyone who knows anything much about fancy food in Budapest will already know about Culinaris (click link for contact details and user feedback), the locally-owned chain of gourmet food stores that began with humble roots in District VI before...
Sep 12 '08
10 Reasons to Get Your Sleepy Behind Up on Saturday Morning and Go to the MOM Organic Market
We should have written this article at the beginning of the summer, not the end. But since autumn is also a time when Mother Nature is at her most productive, produce-wise, it's still a fine time to sing the...
Sep 10 '08
The Easy Exoticism of Magyar Arabesque
For internationally-minded foodies living in Hungary, the soaring cost of eating out is only one stomach-churning problem. Even if you do your culinary traveling at home, you have to deal with the hassle and often eye-popping costs involved in...
Jul 22 '08
Food Wars (II): National Food Safety Chief Stung by Sticky Charges Involving "Counterfeit" Honey
While farmers and wholesalers are facing off over the price of melons, National Chief Veterinarian Miklós Süth - who, despite his somewhat odd title, is responsible for the safety of food eaten by Hungary's humans - is locked in...
Jul 22 '08
Food Wars (I): Wholesalers Howl at Prices Demanded by Pig-Headed Hungarian Melon Farmers
As we predicted a few weeks back, this year's "cucumber season" seems destined to be full of unusual excitement, in the form of an ongoing battle between Hungarian farmers and their biggest customers over allegedly plunging prices for certain fruits....
Jul 11 '08
Food Market Report (II): Fruit Growers Threaten War Over Low Prices
While high prices are forcing some Hungarian milk-drinkers to somewhat extreme measures, some Hungarian farmers are saying that the "humiliatingly low" prices being offered for their fruits may lead to them blockading processing plants and wholesalers. According to conservative daily...
Jul 11 '08
Food Market Report (I): Economic Squeeze Pushes Hungarian Milk-Drinkers Closer to the Source
In an interesting development that runs counter to the image of Hungary as a land of hypermarkets and over-processed foods, a recent survey by research group GfK discovered that an increasing number of Hungarians are buying milk not in...
Jul 08 '08
Unusually Exciting Watermelon Story Marks Onset of Typically Dull Hungarian Cucumber Season
While August is still a few weeks away, much of Hungary is already trapped in the torpor of uborkaszezon ("cucumber season") that time of summer when so little happens that the media is obliged to publish stories about the size...
Jul 03 '08
It's small, yellow, bitter, but it's OURS! (Maybe)
We spotted this the other day at the Rothschild's supermarket in District V, and are tempted to offer a big prize to anyone who can prove that citrom is being grown commercially anywhere in Hungary - maybe even a...
Jun 11 '08
Pick Your Own (II): Mushroom Nearly the Size of Hungary Found Growing in Hungary
While we're on the topic of having fun foraging for food in Hungary, portal stop.hu reports that a giant puffball mushroom the size of a watermelon was discovered in Makkoshotyka, BAZ County. The óriáspöfeteg, which weighed 5.7 kilograms, has already...
Jun 11 '08
Pick Your Own (I): Organized Food Foraging Opportunities Abound
Hungary's markets are already full of gorgeous local produce, and they will keep filling up with more for months to come when they’ll be brimming with great local fruits and vegetables. But nothing beats picking your own, if you are...
Apr 11 '08
Emergence of Hungarian Bear Onion from Winter Slumber Signals Arrival of Spring
The signs all seem to say that spring has finally arrived. There are a few bunches of Hungarian-grown spárga in the market, and lots of tiny eper (strawberries) - though at almost Ft 4,500 (€18) a crate at the...
Mar 10 '08
International News (II): Low-Rent Supermarket Chain Enters Crowded Tourist Rip-Off Market
In the latest sign of the ongoing "gourmetization" of Budapest, Hungary's most Hungarian and God-fearing of grocery store chains CBA is set to open "elegant" food shops in some of the capital's most popular tourist destinations....
Mar 10 '08
International News (I): The Little Lemon that Brings New York to Budapest
We were doing our shopping the other day in the Belvárosi Vásárcsarnok (District VI market hall) when we happened upon something usual: Meyer lemons. If you don't know the Meyer lemon, it's sort of a cross between a lemon...
Jan 07 '08
Holiday Cheer (II): New Year's No Party for Hungarian Pigs
As seen around noon on December 31, at Budapest's Nagyvásárcsarnok (Central Market Hall). And you thought the end of the long holiday break made you feel gutted......
Nov 16 '07
Deep-Fried Friday (I): Almost Everyone a Winner in the Budapest Lángos War
Now that the grueling Budapest Burgerwar™ is slowly grinding to a conclusion, we will soon have to find another category of edible suitable for a competition. It looks, however, like we'll have to find something other than the lángos,...
Oct 30 '07
Activists Save District VI Market's Bacon, For Now
The fruits and vegetables sold at the Hunyadi tér Piac may be perishable, but the debate surrounding the indoor/outdoor public market in the heart of Budapest's District VI is likely to be as long-lasting - and pungent - as...
Oct 24 '07
Sniffing Out Home-Made Dairy Products in the Heart of Buda
For those lamenting the shortage of cheese outlets and not willing to go all the way to Kecskemét, we might have found salvation. As an appetizer, I managed to grab this under-the-counter snap of the home-made dairy products stand...
Oct 24 '07
A Bittersweet Reminder of Would-Be Hungarian Gourmands' Purchasing Power
While waiting for our morning metro the other day at a station in downtown Budapest we spotted this billboard on the other side of the tracks. If your Hungarian is poor enough that you can't tell what it is,...
Oct 18 '07
Home-Delivered Italian Specialties Now (Almost) as Easy as Point and Click
We're always on the lookout for ways to simplify our lives. So when we heard about Cibus, an online gourmet Italian grocery store in Budapest that delivers, it seemed almost too good to be true: just click on some...
Oct 15 '07
Every Day is Egg Day in Hungary!
We didn't get around to mentioning that last Friday was International Egg Day. But no mind, because in Hungary it is not only the second Friday of every October that the lowly tojás gets its day in the sun....
Oct 12 '07
Quick! Hungarian Quince Season is Here!
Early autumn is almost as good of a time for shopping in Hungarian markets as high summer. There are still tasty reminders of summer, like tomatoes, corn, and plums. But there are also fall flavors like pears, apples, all...
Sep 21 '07
The Only Thing Better than Kecskemét Cheese are the People Who Sell It
If you spend a decent amount of time shopping in Budapest's supermarkets - as opposed to its increasing number of gourmet and specialty food shops - you will quickly come to the conclusion that these are not the places...
Aug 30 '07
Mainstreaming of Gourmet Imported Food Reaches Cheesy New Heights
Regular readers will have already noted our ongoing fascination with the increasing ease with which one can find hitherto unavailable imported food luxuries in Hungary. So we'll just mention that, if you are a fan of extra-aged Gouda and...
Apr 24 '07
Hungarian Food Retailers in Pioneering Discount Pricing Program
We have a few serious - and no-so-serious - posts on the way. But first just enjoy these two shots that ended up in our E-mail inbox via Hungarian gagsite legalja.hu. We're sure they are innocent mistakes. Or at...
Apr 04 '07
Romania-Mania (I): Mămăligă-eaters Cross Border for Food Bargains
From our foreign desk comes an interesting story that you might want to keep in mind for the next time someone in Hungary bitches about high food prices. According to an article in the Romanian daily Romania Libera summarized on...
Feb 09 '07
Gourmet Food in Budapest Now Officially *Really* Generic
A few months back, we observed that the opening of a gourmet food store in Pest's District VI called merely the "Gourmet Deli" showed how generic imported or otherwise exotic food had become in Budapest. Well, it seems that...
Feb 08 '07
Hungarian Tesco Found Not Guilty of Being Too Cheap and Efficient
A much-hyped government inquest into charges that several of Hungary's larger food retailers engaged in predatory pricing and abused their suppliers has ended in a verdict of not guilty. According to a report in business daily Világgazdaság, the committee set...
Feb 06 '07
Low Prices Plus Forint Risk Equals Feeding Frenzy for Foreign Wine Buffs
As we reported last month, the post-holiday season generally offers good values in local wine stores. But February is looking even better. We stopped in the other night at our local Bortársaság, and discovered that most or all of...
Dec 05 '06
Csicsókák Offer Brief Salvation from Winter Tuber Hell
The days of tasty local blueberries are sadly behind us, and any trip to the market in Hungary will remind you that now is clearly the time for roots and tubers. But look closely and you'll see that there's...
Nov 20 '06
Vintage Sausages Seized in Police Raid in Pest
More than three tons of spoiled meat were seized by food inspectors Thursday morning at the Lehel téri piac (Lehel tér food market). According to rtlklub.hu, six food-sellers at the large District XIII bazaar were fined a total of over...
Nov 02 '06
Exploring Budapest's Four Tigers Food Market (V): Rong Rong is Right Right
Living in Hungary one can easily forgets that there are things known as "green vegetables." While most of our expatriated food needs have been either satiated or squelched over the course of time, our craving for good and diverse...
Oct 10 '06
Market Mystery: Who Buys The Horse Meat?
Maybe it was a subconscious thing, but despite years of shopping and browsing at the Nagyvásárcsarnok, we only recently noticed the two stalls side-by-side specializing in horse meat. There's even a horse head hanging above the rows of szalámi and...
Oct 10 '06
Retro Rice Shortage Special at Tesco
Although there has been some misguided reminiscing recently about the good old days, no one, especially not us gourmands, is fondly remembering the dark days when hungry citizens had to stand in line for hours to get their hands on...
Oct 05 '06
Italian-Hungarian Shocker (II): Frumpy Hungarian Tarkabab Exposed as Trendy Tuscan Borlotti Bean
As we mentioned on Monday, local markets in Hungary are currently featuring some seasonal items that shouldn't be overlooked. In addition to eating as many blueberries as you can stomach, another key item for your basket is a bag...
Oct 02 '06
Time to Eat Kék Áfonya Until You Are Blue in the Face
Summer is now officially over, meaning that seasonal produce will soon start to get a little scarce in Hungary. Which makes it imperative that you take full advantage of those bits of locally-grown natural freshness still available at your...
