8 Hungarian foods that Hungarians love but are strange for foreigners
There are foods that are known and popular all over the world. There may be different tastes, but almost everyone loves a hamburger, gyros or pizza. Hungarian gastronomy is also famous all over the world, but there are foods and habits that, when first encountered by a foreigner, look strange. We will present these in our article.
Lángos
Lángos is becoming more and more popular not only among Hungarians but also abroad. However, if someone first encounters this deep-fried dough, they will be surprised. Hungarians eat this with sour cream, garlic, and cheese toppings.
Poppy seed pasta
In Hungary, poppy seed and all poppy seed foods are completely normal. However, in some parts of the world, many people associate poppy seed with poppy tea and opium.
‘Vargabéles’
Poppy seed pasta is strange to many not only because it contains poppy seeds but also for the same reason ‘vargabéles’ is considered weird. This is because sweet pasta is not common in most countries, and it is especially unusual in countries like Italy where pasta has a long tradition.
Túró rudi
Túró rudi is also a typical food that is extremely strange for foreigners. In most countries, sweet cottage cheese is a weird concept. Adding the chocolate coating to it is very strange for many. However, we Hungarians have loved it for decades.
Pasta with potato
This dish is divisive even among Hungarians. One person may be a fan of it and another may not understand what to love about it. In fact, in this dish, two garnishes meet on one plate. If Hungarians are already confused about it, it is no wonder that people abroad find it rather interesting.
Trotter stew
In many places, various animal offals are consumed. However, making food out of an animals’ nails is completely unique, which many consider a crazy thing to do.
Kocsonya (Jelly)
Kocsonya was created so that the bones would not be wasted. The end product is a quivering, translucent type of food. It is very healthy due to its high collagen content, but many are not convinced.
Fried blood
This is without a doubt the most unusual dish. All parts of the animal killed during a pig slaughter are used up. The blood of the animal is collected and fried on fat and onions. Many people would rather let this part go to waste.
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5 Comments
This is so tiresome. First, Konsconya and ‘Fried Blood’ are in no way unique to Hungary, nor even Europe. Secondly, sweet pasta recipes ARE found in Italy and quite popular (a simple recipe is Gino D’Acampo’s Sweet Pasta recipe – google it) but are very common in India (Payasam recipes for instance).
they were unique to our culture i think is what is said . by no means alone in eating them . i never saw any of them in any of my friends houses. Hungarians eat 60 noodles ,more then italians .just a stat .
Pasta (Tészta) was brought to Europe from China by Marco Polo from China in the form of Chinese noodles. Just a fact. Not Hungarian culture either.
There are a lot more unusual and quite unique Hungarian dishes than the ones listed, and these include:
Madártej (Birdmilk)
Vese Velő (pig’s kidneys and pig’s brain stew)
Pacal Pörkölt (tripe gulash for Westerners)
Disznótoros (with three different types of sausages)
Trapacska
Túróscsusza
Etc, etc
Gulas,
Somloi Galuska