On Being Vegetarian in Budapest

A little bit about me:

I grew up vegetarian, which is rather unusual for an American. I think I’ve met only one other person in my life who’s diet was vegetarian from birth.  Now, I have met a barrel-full of people who are vegetarian, but a significant portion of them made the decision to become vegetarian around middle to high school.  My younger sisters were also raised vegetarian, so we had the opposite option of eating meat.  Our parents made the decision to change to a vegetarian diet before I was born (and I’m the eldest).  Both Mama and Papa grew up eating meat regularly, and I believe the main reason for the switch was for health reasons.

In the past few years, I’ve determined that I’m vegetarian by default; I have no strong feelings about eating meat, I just don’t eat meat because it’s not in my diet.  Throughout my life, I continuously run into people who can’t seem to wrap their heads around vegetarianism (Note: Not a religion).  I’ve had to explain my diet in a number of ways to classmates, roommates, friends, co-workers.  Vegetarianism does not include fish (that would be a pescetarian), does include milk, eggs, and other dairy products (so not a vegan), and most certainly doesn’t include meat.  You’d be shocked how many people have to confirm with me that I don’t eat meat.

Other clarifications I’ve had to make include:

• This is my diet, I’m Not ON a diet.
• I CAN in fact survive without eating meat: beans, peanut butter, eggs, sprouts, spinach, etc, contain protein.
• I WILL get sick if I eat too much meat, it’s not a myth, my body can’t break down the abundance of protein that exists in meat.
• On the flip side, I can taste a little bit of meat if I choose, and in the past, I have tried meat.
• And yes, I’m vegetarian, NO, I don’t like Tofu!  But, I will consume it under a few circumstances (Nothing to eat. It’s in the meal I’m served. I’m starving).

Now, admittedly, most people are just curious, and I’ve met a few with a fair amount of knowledge about vegetarianism.  However, since arriving in Budapest, I have had to (once again) repeat the above notes to several people.  Why?

Being Vegetarian in Hungary

People I meet in Budapest are truly blown off-kilter when I tell them I’m vegetarian.  I keep running into that swinging question, “You’re VEGETARIAN? And you came to Hungary?” accompanied by a one-eyebrow launch to the ceiling.  It seems that meat is a highly valued component in Hungarian meals.  I can’t imagine what I’m doing visiting a meat-loving city after coming from a country that practically lives off of Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and Pepperoni Pizza.  I live in Pennsylvania; kids take off school on the first day of hunting season.  I go to school in Maryland, crab cakes anyone? Sea food? Lobster?  I thought Americans were stereotyped for always eating at McDonald’s?

Furthermore, the amount of stunned faces I turn up is disproportionate to the availability of vegetarian food here in Budapest.  Now, I say “here in Budapest,” because it has been made clear to me that the further you venture into the countryside, you will find increasingly fewer non-meat options.  Since I’m cooking for myself, I have plenty of opportunity to make my own vegetable, fruit, cheese, bread, noodle combinations, which are available at regular grocery stores and fresh food markets.  However, BreAnna and I are looking for a few opportunities to eat out, although we both have restrictions due to tight budgets.

So far, Vegetarian meals that I’ve consumed in Budapest include:

1 – A buffet-style meal that we had in the first week.  We headed across the city on a metro line at night, and popped up in an area defined by the train tracks, sketchy shadows, a brick wall, and the metro station from which we were emerging.  A few feet along the walk-way, and we came to a street corner that housed our destination, and a few other dark buildings.  The first floor of the restaurant held a coat check and a wall stuffed (no pun intended) with antlers.  It seemed reminiscent of a scene in The Illusionist (2006), where Chief Inspector Walter Uhl strides down the hallway of Crown Prince Leopold’s palace.  Antlers, like branches of a winter forest, loom above Chief Inspector Uhl.  Deer heads and frozen birds ghost through the lifeless forest.  Admittedly, the restaurant wasn’t spooky, and luckily, we didn’t end up eating under the antlers.  We wound our way upstairs and sat at a long stretch of tables.  The main attraction for the restaurant was the selection of meat which they would grill in front of you, according to your request.  Luckily for me, the buffet had plenty of other options.  I found a noodle dish, which I thought, at first, was a rice dish because the noodles were chopped so finely.  It had a lovely light spicing, probably with paprika (it was distinctly coated in red).  Even though goulash (meat based) was the main soup option, there was a delicious vegetable soup settled in the next pot over.  While vegetable soup isn’t my first pick, Hungarians know how to make soup.  It wasn’t overly salty, and none of the vegetables were mushy or too firm, and the spicing added an amazing touch.  And, of course there was fruit, vegetables, bread, etc.

I'm sad when there's no Strawberry Juice

2 – A delicious rice dish acquired from the cafe at McDaniel College Budapest.  The cafe is located in the basement, but is a nice place to relax, and they give large portions for good prices.  This plate of rice had broccoli, carrots and peas and was very tasty.  For a drink, I had strawberry juice – deliciousness!

Carrots and Peas and Corn, Oh My!

3 – A second food item acquired from the McDaniel cafe, and while it’s not unique to the cafe, it’s toppings are unique to Hungary.  This is the third time I’ve had a Hungarian version of “vegetarian pizza,” and it’s quite literally called vegetarian, not vegetable pizza.  In America, I’ve had vegetable pizzas with onion, pepper, mushroom, black olives, tomato, and broccoli.  In Hungary, the vegetarian pizzas have the basic tomato sauce and cheese, but the normal toppings are corn, peas, and carrots.  Corn Peas and Carrots?  It’s what you stir in a soup, throw on rice, or eat as a side.  This particular version also had beans, adding to the “goes in a soup” assessment.  I have never before eaten a pizza with corn, peas, carrots, or beans.  It tastes fine, even though it has a very lumpy appearance.

 Final Comments:

Being vegetarian in Budapest isn’t any more impossible than in any American city.  (We’ll see how it goes when I get to small towns, but I can live on bread + water for a few days).  This weekend, my group is traveling to Pécs, where our Saturday dinner is payed for, and I’ll reveal the contents of that meal next week.  Finally, BreAnna and I are stirring up plans for another Sunday night dinner, and hopefully we won’t be so tired from the Pécs trip that we can’t cook.

Jan-May, 2012

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Surviving a Week in Budapest

Survival skills are needed in any city, such as walking across the street without loosing a limb to a passing vehicle, or slinging your bag across your chest, instead of hanging it on a shoulder where it can be snatched.  However, BreAnna and I have a few additional skills we’re picking up here in Budapest.

Skill 1: Patience.  Now, I suppose this is a practical skill that most parents impress upon their children, but BreAnna and I are getting a Hungarian crash course.  At home, I usually know how long it will take me to reach the store, or my friends house, so I can allot the correct amount of time.  On Wednesday, our group had to meet up to go with McDaniel staff to an Immigration Office.  We had a meeting time of 8:15am, we headed out the door at 7:30am, and after a quick turn around, got going at 7:40am.  We located the correct tram to Blaha Luzja ter, jumped on-board and two stops later we were standing on the platform wondering what to do for 30 minutes.  It seems we have expectations of transportation taking longer than it actually does.  Now, even though it’s a city, I have yet to see a traffic jam.  Why?  Because many people take the cheaper option; public transportation.  As McDaniel students, we have a $15 monthly student pass that we can use to ride any public tram, trolly, subway, or bus.  Since transportation is quick, we find ourselves characteristically early when we only intended to be on time.

Skill 1 Continued: Remember, patience is key.  After our group rode to the Immigration office, we walked in and sat.  Just like any major office in the U.S., you sit while the electronic screens hold numbers lower than yours, and never seem to change.  When my number finally came up, I walked down the hall to the correct counter and sat down again.  I passed my papers to the woman behind the counter and again, waited, as she copied, sorted, stamped, and signed my papers.  Finally, they took my picture and shooed me towards the waiting room where it seemed everyone had finished…. except BreAnna.  Stuck with a complication involving her bank statement, she was still twiddling her thumbs.

Finally she was released and we could go shopping.

Skill 2: Guessing.  Surprise, surprise, Madyarul (Hungarian) is often the only language surrounding you in Hungary.  While I can now recognize several street names by how they are spelled, I certainly can’t pronounce them.  Madyarul covers every box and bag in the grocery store, with only a few food items sporting English words on the front (if we’re lucky).  It’s more of a challenge than you would think trying to pick out which baking flour is most likely to be all-purpose.  If all else fails, and you’ve lost the guessing game, ask.

Skill 3: Ask.  After debating over what might possibly be vegetable oil, in a small grocery store, BreAnna and I decided to figure it out later.  I went out that evening while she was napping to try again, and found that my skills at guessing Hungarian had not improved in the course of a few hours.  So, I went back to my room and translated salt (só), black pepper (feketebors), and vegetable oil (növényi olaj), and once again trooped up the street for groceries.  Well, I found só and feketebors, but I kept staring at the oils.  I could pick out olive oil and sunflower oil, but I wasn’t entirely sure that the green bottle with vegetables on it was vegetable oil, namely because there were two different ones, a 10% and a 15% bottle.  So, I asked an attendant if he spoke English he said a little, but had to get another store staff to answer my question.  Ultimately, I settled on sunflower oil. Asking is a very good skill; it saved BreAnna and I from cooking our food in vinegar, the actual substance in the green bottle.

Skill 4: Scrubbing Dishes.  I doubt most people from our group were stalled on this particular skill.  In our case, however, we pulled up short upon discovering most of our dishes were dotted with a yellow sticky and sometimes crusty substance.  This revelation lead to an inspection of the cabinets, releasing musty smells and location of more gunk dried on shelves and the bottoms of our wall cabinets.  We delved into a two-day cleaning frenzy of our tiny kitchen and assorted dishes.  At least we’re well aware of what’s included in our current kitchen supply.

Skill 5: Unlocking the Door Frantically.  Wednesday afternoon I was pondering over a small box located on the wall above the shower head, well out of reach for two girls standing around 5ft 2.  It was plugged into the wall, and I figured if it was meant to be messed with, it would have been placed low enough to be examined.  10 minutes later a violent screeching answered my questions.  Poor BreAnna was in the bathroom when the alarm sounded, and echoed around the tiny bathroom.  Next to the word gas, was a small red light.  All I came up with was, “Get out!”  The door immediately gave us another fright; it was locked.  We were told to keep our apartments locked, even when we were at home (to prevent cat burglars), and we were effectively locked in a gas-filled apartment.  It only took a few seconds to unlock the door and we crashed onto the terrace, releasing the alarm into the building’s courtyard.  Since we didn’t have any open fires, I headed back inside to open windows as BreAnna called our adviser at McDaniel.  We were told the company (whatever one is affiliated with the school/building) would be sent over to inspect our alarm, which promptly turned off.  Still, to avoid suffocation, we left our windows open and braved the winter wind.  As we waited for the fix-it guy, we debated over a potential gas smell in the kitchen.  Yes, our stove is a gas stove.  Finally, as we headed out the door to run errands, we met the company’s guy headed towards our door.  He had keys to our apartment, so we were able to leave, and when we returned, the windows were shut and the alarm silent.  The only other time it has sounded was when BreAnna was in the shower, and then it was sporadic, on for a few seconds, off for a few more.  I don’t understand the logic of having a smoke/gas alarm in a potentially steam-filled bathroom.  Our gas fright brings me to our next skill.

Skill 6: Lighting the gas stove.  The oven at my house has an electric lighter, and I was a bit nervous about cooking when I had to light the flame myself.  So, as BreAnna and I prepared to light the gas oven (which may or may not have been the cause of the sudden gas alarm the day before), we opened a window, made sure we knew where our keys were and got ready to bolt if something went wrong.  After teasing my mom about blowing non-existent gas from an electric oven I had gained a bit of common sense, and after each false start, I blew away any extra gas that could possibly be lingering on the stove top.  Between the two of us, we got one of the burners going and we were able to make spaghetti.  We’ll soon be cooking some Hungarian dishes, and hopefully they’ll turn out nicely.

Skill 7: Dressing correctly.  Just because we flew in on an evening with nice weather, doesn’t mean winter is over.  There was snow drifting across our faces as we followed our guide on Thursday, and Friday meeting winds that slid down alleyways and zipped around building corners.  Even with a winter coat, I could have used an extra pair of pants and a long sleeve shirt on either day.  I need to finish unpacking before we start school and find my long underwear.  Waiting for the trolly at 7:30am will certainly be colder than at 10:00am.

So, we’ve survived a week in Budapest, and we just have to get through 17 more weeks.  I think once the weather warms up and we have a chance to explore it we’ll have some adventures.  I rather like being able to move my fingers when trying to take a photograph, so currently, I’ve been leaving my cameras at home.

Jan 22-28, 2012

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