How and what did the ancestors of Hungarians eat?

Hungarian gastronomy is gaining popularity or at least some publicity around the world recently, and if you are a regular reader of ours, you might be familiar with its flavours and even some recipes. Mainly it is famous for its meat dishes, such as the goulash (gulyás), potatoes and one of the most well-known Hungarian spices, the paprika. To be honest, yes, these are all part of Hungarian gastronomy today, but it was not always like that. Let us go on a journey into the past and look at what the ancestors of Hungarians ate.

We should start with some ‘debunking’. So, although we use paprika, the plant itself is from America. At first, it was thought to be poisonous, so it was used only as a decorative plant and the name ‘paprika’ was only coined in Hungary in 1724. Towards the end of the 18^th century, it started to gain popularity as a spice and have since transformed the Hungarian cuisine entirely. The same goes for potatoes as well. Although the Hungarian ‘paprikás krumpli’ (potato paprikash) is a prevalent dish, it could not have been made earlier than 1650, as the potato presumably entered the country from the New World around that time. Bread, as we know it today, was not consumed by early Hungarian either, but more on that later.

If they could not have used the things that make Hungarian cuisine Hungarian today, then what did they eat? – you might ask. Well, to be honest, it is easier than you might think, and some things endured the sands of time and are still used as important building blocks of several Hungarian dishes. The main difference was their lifestyle.

Early Hungarians were equestrian people who were frequently on the move. They did not often use stationary cooking methods such as ovens for example.

Ingredients and ideology

Ingredients-wise, they mostly ate what nature offered; what they could catch or collect. Of course, they also grew some plants and bred some animals to eat their meat or use their milk, such as cattle, horses, and sheep. They used a wide variety of wild-growing spices, fruits, and vegetables as well as a plethora of different types of grains. According to some speculations, Hungarians might have brought two spices with themselves to Europe: ‘tárkony’ (tarragon) and ‘csombor’ (savoury, esp. summer). Other spices include: ‘kakukkfű’ (thyme), ‘fűszerkömény’ (caraway), ‘fokhagyma’ (garlic), ‘kapor’ (dill), ‘zsálya’ (salvia/sage), ‘lestyán’ (lovage) among others. As I mentioned, they also used other, wild-growing plants, which were mainly: ‘csalán’ (nettle), ‘kamilla’ (chamomile), ‘medvehagyma’ (bear leek), etc. They hunted different types of game, such as ‘szarvas’ (deer), ‘vaddisznó’ (boar), ‘nyúl’ (rabbit), but fish were also often part of their menu.

Their main idea of gastronomy was based on the respect of the five elements that were part of their culture: fire, water, earth, wood and iron.

Therefore, it seems logical that they cooked in an iron pot or kettle (‘üst’ or ‘bogrács’) with water in it, standing over the ground heated by fire made from wood. This combined every aspect of their gastrological beliefs, and it is still viral today. Some of the most delicious Hungarian dishes are made with this technique. They could either make their dishes thick, such as ‘pörkölt’ (stew) or thin which would more-or-less resemble a rich soup. This might be the reason behind the fact that Hungarian ‘gulyás’ (goulash) could be a soup and a stew depending on how you make it, which is often confusing for foreigners.