Posted on 07/13/2011 8:47:43 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Food considered to be unhealthy, including crisps (potato chips), soft drinks and chocolate bars, are now subject to a new tax in Hungary. The new law, introduced on 11 July, is aimed at "improving the health of the nation". Initially called 'the hamburger tax', the measure was dubbed 'crisps tax' or 'fat tax' after the Hungarian government decided that it would not affect fast food restaurants. The plan is to impose a 10 forint (3.7 eurocent) levy on products that contain "too much" salt, sugar, or fat, while increasing the tax on liquor and soft drinks by 10%, according to the Global Post news website. . . .
According to DPA agency, Hungarians – heavy smokers and drinkers whose traditional diet is rich in pork, fat and salt – have one the lowest life expectancies in the European Union. However, the new law does not cover traditional Hungarian cuisine, like deep-fried goose fat.
Does this mean we can tax Michelle “Fat Cakes” Odumbo now?
how long before universities start awarding degrees in social engineering?
Sooner than you think!
There are calls for social justice math.
Actually goose fat isn't deep fried; I think they may be talking about goose and duck skin which is cooked in goose or duck fat, drained, then salted, and is delicious, but probably pretty deadly. LOL
Traditional Hungarian cuisine used to be pretty heavy on beef and chicken, not pork. Also, many traditional dishes are cooked for two to three days, on and off, before eating it, with the removal of the congealed and risen fat, each day, prior to recooking. This makes these dishes pretty fat free, not to mention healthy.
OTOH, Hungarian desserts are THE best in the world, with the ultra thin layers of cake an excuse to pile heavenly icing in between each cake layer. But there's always the ultra light strudel, for the weight conscious.
Well, what do you expect from a country called “Hungary”?
I’m a beef person myself, my wife is from Gyor. We’ve spent many summers there, and she still owns her aunts home in western Magyar, near the Austrian border (near Msonmagyarovar).
I’m going to say, I wish you were correct. We cannot find decent beef (sometimes any beef) in western to central Magyar, unless you are willing to pay a serious price in the large cities (Gyor, Budapest, etc).
Chicken is the main dish, and I get so sick of chicken, with pig being a 2nd. Even when crossing to Austria, its pork pork pork.
Now, I have found this interesting, because I love to cook, and many recipes I find here, traditional Hungarian types, call for cubed beef. I was informed that those are “Americanized”, when indeed, the original recipes would have called for deer, but since beef is common in America, Goulash is beef based here, but pork & game based there. Either way, a ton of paprikash.
I only rebutted you, because, it is my pet peeve when we go see her family... the lack of beef that is...
I’m not fond of Hungarian deserts either, though my kids and wife love them. Too much alcohol in them for my taste, very similar to some Mexican deserts. Now... get me into Vienna... and yer talkin my language! I can put on 5 pounds on my first day in downtown Vienna! Just from pastries! And... my wife HATES Austrian pastries and cakes!
Opposites attract I guess :)
Government trying to regulate behavior, using the tax system.
Coming to the US soon.
Okay, so some recipes have been updated, because we're in America, but they were done so by the first ones over and then, a bit by their children. Because the same kind of lard couldn't be bought here, that was used in Hungary, we use butter ( and so did true Magyars cook with tons of butter, anyway ), canned tomato sauce is used, instead of home grown tomatoes, and because wood stoves to cook in went the way of the Dodo bird, some things can't be kept on the stove, slowly simmering for days, or even months on end.
Alcohol in desserts? Not in Dobosh Torte, strudel, poppy- seed horseshoes , Lekvaros Baratfule, Linzer Torte, and on and on.
Chicken was always a staple, as were goose, duck, and beef. Some things have changed, I guess.
There are seven different kinds of goulash and that's not counting the soup.
My family came from other areas than your wife's, but since it was so long ago, I imagine that the variety and kinds of foods available now, have changed somewhat. Hungary was once a big cattle and sheep farming nation. Two World Wars, the stinking Commies, not to mention the stealing away of much of what was Hungary, even under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, must have changed many things; not to mention just the passing of time.
Does your wife make Hungarian food at home? Does she make most veggies sweet&sour?
If you ever want to talk about food/recipes, just drop me a FREEPmail. BTW........the Hungarian desserts that I love are probably more to your liking. LOL
Restricting Dobos Torte might cause a revolution.
I've always loved it ( it's my favorite Hungarian dessert, though my great, great grandmother's poppy-seed horseshoes come a close second )and it used to be Hungary's "national dessert"; way back when.
Yup. You said it. That is why the Obama's will likely try it here, a love of fleecing the tax payers under the guise of "righteousness" liberal style.
She doesn’t cook much, she hates it, but... I enjoy it :)
And yes, during the occupation, my wife says that cattle became only used for milk, because if you slaughtered a cow, you had to give half the cow to the soviet administer in your town, and they took the best parts, so, they only had a couple cows per town for dairy, which the dairy guy would sell. She said the cities were different, but she was from a pretty rural area.
But even now, we went 2 years ago..... you could not get anything grilled, no steak, nothing like that. chicken chicken chicken, lol, I love chicken, but chicken for 4 weeks will drive you nuts!
Now, I do like them pastry things you rub garlic on, and I forgot the traditional name, Lvash or something like that. (she’s sleeping now, and I don’t dare wake her and ask her “whats that one pastry thing you rub garlic on????” She’d bean me, heh)
And yeah, their cakes have rum in them, like Black Forest cake without the cherries and stuff, at least in western Hungary. Blech.
Strudel is Austrian, Linzer Tortes are Austrian, and those I like. You find a lot of Austrian deserts in Hungary.. for obvious reasons, but I was mainly referring to those deserts that were what my in-laws would call traditional (for them at least).
Also, there are really 2 types of Hungarians, the rural and urban (like here), my wifes family being rural, is much much different than the traditional urban types, and the foods are much more different (from what I have observed).
Budapest has some serious fine cuisine (and prices to match), it is much more metropolitan than where they are from, and the diet is much different as well. Also, in the north, you have a ton of Slavak-and Polish types foods, which I enjoy, and then if you go south of the lake, you get dumplings or noodles with EVERYTHING, kind of like far northern Italian.
I love Hungary, because it is so diverse, it is like visiting several different cultures in one small area. I really enjoyed eastern Hungary 15 years ago, it was very Romanian, and so damn historic.
Oh, and yes, goose and duck (blech), a staple as well. My wife likes goose lard on bread with salt..... and duck blood sausage... gross. Please don’t tell me you like those things as well, lol, because if you do, and you are near Chicago, you’ll have to hang out with her and eat some of that nasty stuff! Cuz I won’t do it! :)
The desserts I know and love may sound more Austrian, to you; but, they were and are Hungarian! And I would bet that you would LOVE them. :-)
Goose or duck fat on bread? Y-U-C-K ! Not my thing at all, but my family was still hanging on to eating tripe and tongue, when I was bitty. I was excused from eating the offal, but made, for a while to eat tongue, which I abhorred!
Yes, noodles and dumpling, not to mention the Magyar version of spatzle, which is nokedli. I don't like any of that. My grandfather loved what translates into "DIRTY NOODLES" for brunch. It's flat egg noodles with lekvar, walnuts, and cinnamon. Not to my taste, but each to his or her own.
Re the cattle/beef............I figured that something like your heart breaking story was the fact. What a disaster, especially since true Magyar history had always included cattle herding and much beef consumption.
I love to cook. :-)
Only chicken and pork? Not even fish dishes? Four weeks of that would drive me a bit nuts and I love chicken and goose and duck.
You live in Chicago?
I lived there for almost 17 years ( as an adult ), but no longer do and haven't done for quite some time.
Yeah, sciences like "global warming studies" will need that.
I just heard something about a "9/11 curriculum" beginning in kindergarten. Gad.
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