politics
Feb 16 '10
Campaign Promise to Dilute Ban on Home Pálinka Distilling Receives Mixed Reactions
If it wins the upcoming elections as most believe it will, Fidesz will partially lift the ban on the private distilling of pálinka, Kossuth Rádió reports. The law would be modified to allow people to make an as-yet unannounced...
Oct 15 '09
Food Industry News: Tycoon Eats Túró Rudi Factory, Minister Mulls Milk Crisis, Egg Consumption Cracks and Convenient New Corner Shops Denounced as Intolerable Evil
Been a while since we posted on developments in the domestic food industry. Here are some recent highlights: Meddling Magyar Agriculture Minister József Gráf (above left in silly hat; click link to enjoy some of his previous silliess) last...
Aug 12 '09
So a Dirty Politician Walks Into a District VI Pub...
Just a heads up to let you know that the wishes of at least one commenter irritated at our non-coverage of the ongoing controversy over the draconian new closing time rules for restaurants and bars in District VI have...
Jun 09 '09
Booze News: Non-Alcoholic Beer Gains in Popularity as State Pours Cash into Hard Liquor Production
Two bits of interesting domestic booze news from last week. First, market research ACNielsen reported on Friday that a drop in prices for non-alcoholic beer has led to a relative surge in purchases of alkoholmentes sör by Hungarians. Consumption...
May 07 '09
Reeling from Recession, Local Restaurants Brace for Potentially Fatal Tax Hikes
Although the mounting problems in the Hungarian restaurant trade are well documented on this site, portal Origo has taken the time to subject the industry's woes to a massive feature on Tuesday. In addition to the old news that Hungarians...
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...
Mar 27 '09
Rich Americans, Poor Hungarians Brought Together By Love of Authenticity, Exclusivity
In these days of international economic crisis and discord, it's always nice to hear stories that illustrate how food can build bridges between peoples. This morning, several readers sent over a link to this story in today's New York...
Aug 06 '08
Authorities Identify Nine Places in Hungary Safe to Eat At
In a development that would be really funny if it weren't also really, really scary, business daily Napi.hu reports that Hungary's State Public Health and Medical Officer Service (ÁNTSZ) has just published a report on food safety at the...
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...
May 05 '08
Refugee Restaurant Owner Gets "Takeout" Order from Hungarian Immigration Authorities
The curry at the budget foodies' paradise Bangla Büfé on Akácfa utca in District VII is still fast and tasty, but without the renowned Bangladeshi chef known as Mimmo, who was recently spooned a bit of unwanted curry by...
Apr 17 '08
EU "Help" Means Bitter End for Historic Hungarian Sugar Factory
If you are unsure of the merits of the European Union's bafflingly complex system of agricultural subsidies, here's a reason to suspect they aren't good enough. Hungarian portal Index.hu is today reporting that a quirk in the EU's sugar...
Apr 01 '08
Hungary Goes Hungry
If you are out and about today in Budapest, you may find all the food shops and restaurants empty. Here's why....
Mar 17 '08
Winemakers Propose Alternative to Strict Hungarian Drunk-Driving Laws
Over on Caboodle.hu there is a chilling story today about a new proposal by the Hungarian national police to stiffen up the country's already draconian drunk-driving laws. While we're a little hazy on the planned new regulations (if the current...
Mar 06 '08
Sins of Gluttonous Thursday (I): Restaurant Patrons Poisoned as Hungarian Health Authorities Found Out to Lunch
So it was a month ago today that hundreds of restaurants around Hungary observed the annual promotion known as Torkos Csütörtök, or "Gluttonous Thursday", in which diners get 50% off their meal tabs, and the repercussions are still being felt...
Feb 22 '08
Hungarian Politicians Form Parliamentary Drinking Team, Insist It's a Pálinka Oversight Committee
A Five-party consensus has been reached on a bill about the establishment of a National Pálinka Committee (Pálinka Nemzeti Tanács) which is to regulate the production and types of pálinka, and perform quality control functions, writes Gazdasági Rádió, based on...
Nov 20 '07
New Budget Restaurant Opens to Feed "Poor" Parliamentarians
At a buffet restaurant opened recently in the Parliament building, politicians can buy a lunch menu for Ft 410 (€1.60), fruit soup for Ft 160 and "Hawaiian chicken" for Ft 550, prices that are extremely low compared to average lunch...
Nov 06 '07
Hypermarket "French Week" Marred by Government Fines for French Hypermarkets
Yesterday French Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Michael Barnier was in Hungary to kick off "French Week," some kind of culinary promotion tied in with the larger campaign called "French Year" that Hungary is apparently hosting in 2007. As you might...
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...
Sep 19 '07
Sarkozy Unharmed in Unexpected Vargabéles Incident
As you may have heard, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in Budapest last Friday to consult with some of Hungary's leaders. (And to get snubbed by some others). But in addition to all that greeting and meeting, there seems...
Sep 17 '07
Small Hungarian Grocery Chains Choose God Over Customers
As reported over at Caboodle, some Hungarian grocery chains would prefer to stay closed on Sundays. This of course is in relation to the proposal by the Christian Democrats that Sundays remain a day of rest for all those working...
Sep 14 '07
Hungarian Government in New Drive to Promote Consumption of Red Meat
Across the developed world, governments saddled with ever-growing healthcare costs are encouraging their populations to eat more balanced diets rich in vegetables, fruits, whole-grain cereals, and other foods not derived from animal proteins. But not in Hungary! Instead, starting...
Sep 03 '07
Hungarian Education Ministry Offers Troubling Cooking Lesson to Budapest Commuters
Taking the metro to work this morning in Budapest, our typical pre-breakfast trance was broken by a poster of the above picture by Hungarian photographer Anna Fabricius, plastered on the wall of various subway cars courtesy of the culture...
Aug 30 '07
Adorable Hungarian Organic Goats Revealed to be More Dangerous than Terrifying Foreign Food Additive
We haven't mentioned it until today, but over the last month Hungary has been in the throes of a near-panic over reports that numerous food products sold in the country were unsafe due to trace elements of cancer-causing dioxin...
Aug 22 '07
Budapest Bread Festival Threatened by Brewing Peasant Price Riots
We somehow forgot to give you advance notice about this year's annual "Bread Festival," which took place on Monday, alongside much other traditional August 20th holiday merriment. But maybe we were doing you a favor. Because if you had...
Jul 10 '07
Hungarian Culinary Crisis (III): The Chew.hu Manifesto
Several weeks ago, when we published a translation of the so-called "Culinary Charter" addressing the alleged crisis in Hungarian dining and culinary culture, we promised to publish our own thoughts on the matter in "a few days." Well, it took...
Jun 24 '07
Hungarian Culinary Crisis (I): An Open Letter from the Experts
Is Hungarian cuisine and culinary culture in crisis? According to some members of the country's culinary elite, the answer is yes. Following is a (mostly) unabridged translation of an "open letter" signed by almost 100 leading members of the Hungarian...
May 31 '07
Austrian Beer Boycott Called On Non-Austrian Beer
The ongoing outrage of the pollution drifting down the Rába from Austria spilled onto the supermarket shelves this week after a series of websites and chain e-mails urged Hungarian residents to boycott Austrian products. In particular, they targeted Austrian beer,...
Apr 18 '07
Growing Opposition to Hungarian Cookbook by Opposition Leader's Wife
In what must be one of the oddest collisions between politics and food in recent Hungarian history, a new cookbook by the wife of the country's opposition leader is being unfavorably compared to a collection of recipes endorsed by the...
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
Government Fights to Protect Flu-Ridden Ducks from Genetically-Modified Feed
A pair of deadly serious food-related stories has collided in Hungary with what (at least to us) seems like devastatingly unserious consequences. The Hungarian government has been fighting against an EU-wide ban on Magyar poultry, arguing that despite the discovery...
Jan 22 '07
Great News! (Unless You Are a Pig)
We can hear the sighs of collective relief from the direction of Hungary's multitude of hagymás vér (blood and onions) fans. According to the country's chief veterinarian, Miklós Sütő, his earlier words praising Romanian lawmakers' decision to control the butchering...
Nov 09 '06
Minister Offers Reassurance to Bottled Water Snobs
Despite the dirty or incredulous looks we get from waiters and even some friends, we are among those people who go out of our way to drink plain tap water (csapvíz) both at home and when out on the town....
Oct 30 '06
Not Your Everyday Budapest Restaurant Rip-Off
Let's not hear any more complaints about the poor standard of service at Budapest's restaurants. As a victim of a small "foreigner tax," cold soup, or the cold shoulder for your lack of linguistic skills, you got off lightly. Imagine...
Oct 11 '06
Subversive Foreign Food Influences Seen at Nationalist Demonstration
As snapped by contributor Matt Ellis at a recent gathering in Budapest of right-wing anti-government demonstrators, many of whom are convinced that the United States is unfairly supporting the hated Socialists currently running Hungary - and who never miss...
Oct 03 '06
Political Edibles (III): Hungary's Presidential Fair Trade Coffee
Though his powers are mostly ceremonial, Hungarian President László Sólyom (left) has recently made it clear that he is not shy about using this influence whenever he thinks it can be put to good use. Not only has he...
Oct 03 '06
Political Edibles (II): Minister Wages Inquisition Against Imported Food
While Hungary's allegedly xenophobic nationalist opposition is internationalist enough to serve Mexican jalapeño poppers at their campaign breakfasts, the country's supposedly foreigner-friendly Socialist-Liberal government seems to be waging a war against imported food. The leader of the inquisition is Agriculture...
Oct 03 '06
Political Edibles (I): Hungarian Opposition's Non-Austerity Breakfast
When we last took a sniff at Hungary's ongoing political crisis, public health officials had swooped in to close down the impromptu soup kitchen anti-government demonstrators had set up in front of the Hungarian parliament. While true, this story...
Sep 28 '06
Budapest's Newest Restaurant Closes Amid Political Infighting
Restaurants in Budapest have a way of quickly closing amid murky circumstances, but one such closure just being reported by the local media must take the cake. According to the wires, sometime around lunch today the health authorities arrived at...
