{276.} Alimentation

CHAPTERS

The material discussed above in broad outline gave us an acquaintance with the acquisition, growing, and preparation of various plant and animal raw materials, and with their transport to the places where they are processed and consumed. The greater part was used up on the spot by the producers themselves, and only in certain areas did production for market begin earlier in quantities larger than needed for home consumption. This applied to wine already in the 16th to 17th centuries, and certain special produce (paprika, tobacco, fruit, etc.) from the 19th century, and finally to cereals.

In the peasant diet, ancient procedures and dishes lived and are living side by side with the newest ones. The old ones came back into existence especially during times of famine, such as in certain years of the last century, when people not only ate the buds of trees, but ground and baked the bark of trees into bread. Differences among the social layers of the peasantry showed most clearly in the diet. Dishes primarily of vegetable origin dominated the meals of the poor, while fat meat was consumed in much larger quantities by the rich peasants. The dietary requirements of various religions also greatly influenced food, so that historical and social stratification are clearly perceptible within a single settlement.

It is certain that traces of a Finno-Ugric inheritance can also be shown in Hungarian alimentation in names, if in no other way (fazék, pot; köles, millet; vaj, butter; kenyér, bread; főz, cook; forr, boil; süt, bake; eszik, eat; iszik, drink, etc.). Lé (leves, soup) principally means fish soup among the related peoples, whereas among the Hungarians it became generally used as a concept for thin food, which counted until the most recent times as the most important food of the Hungarian peasantry. The Magyar people must have learned a lot about milk processing during the migrations from various Turkic peoples (köpü, churn; író, buttermilk; sajt, cheese; túró, cottage cheese, etc.). The influence of the alimentary culture of the Slavic peoples also shows up in the vocabulary (ecet, vinegar; kása, mush; kalács, milk loaf; kolbász, sausage; kovász, leaven; laska, noodles; pecsenye, roast; pogácsa, bun; szalonna, bacon; tészta, pastry; zsír, lard, etc.), and also in dishes that are still made today (e.g. cabbage and beet dishes). The Germans also influenced the peasant kitchen in many cases, but generally through transfers from the meals of the upper class (cukor, sugar; piskóta, sponge cake; früstük, breakfast; szaft, gravy; szósz, sauce, etc.). Certain Italian influences also came to us the same way (palacsinta, thin pancake; mazsola, raisin; torta, cake, etc.). If we add to all this the possibilities provided by the range of regional basic materials and inner development, then we have before us the extraordinarily manifold and complicated nature of the Hungarian peasantry’s alimentation.

So far ethnographic research has not cleared up satisfactorily the {277.} changes in the historical periods of Hungarian and, within it, of peasant alimentation. Today, basic research makes it possible to carry out this extremely important work, but until it has been carried out, we must be satisfied with introducing primarily the peasant order of meals, the procedures for preparing meals and the most important groups of dishes of the previous century.