The Order of Meals

In earlier days the Hungarian peasant, according to traditions that go back to medieval times, ate only twice a day: in the morning a meal called reggeli, früstök, or ebéd, a word later used for lunch, and in the afternoon the ebéd or vacsora. During the wintertime, this practice lasted nearly till the present, and is closely connected to the early morning and afternoon stoking of the heating contrivance. However, during times of hard work this system is modified to three meals, and occasionally to five.

When the spring work of ploughing and sowing begins, people usually eat three meals a day. The two main meals remain, but in between, at noon (délebéd, midday meal), they eat bread, bacon, onion, or some other cold meal from their knapsack, or maybe fry some bacon. In some towns of the Tiszántúl, people stay on the fields for several days at a time if the outskirts cover large distances (e.g. Hajdúböszörmény). On such occasions it was usually the farmer’s task to cook a hot meal at noon in the kettle. Herdsmen who lived outdoors also ate three times a day (in the region between the Danube and Tisza). Early in the morning the youngest herdsboy (lakos) cooked a breakfast consisting mostly of meat, while at noon, when the stock was grazing far from the farmstead, the young herdsmen ate only bacon and dried meat with bread. A meat dinner awaited them again when they returned to the farmstead in the evening.

147. Two pottery dishes

{281.} The number of meals also increased during the main summer work, especially during harvest and threshing time, when the greatest exertion is necessary. People ate something early in the morning and drank brandy with it, so that they would not start work on an empty stomach, then around 8 o’clock came a breakfast of cold food. They had a one-hour break at noon, and if they harvested for themselves, the women carried the meal out. A brief rest followed again in the afternoon around 5 o’clock, which was accompanied by a cold meal, and when they quit working after dark, they again had warm food at home, or in the case of the share harvesters, at the overnight lodging.

It will be apparent that meals were adjusted to the work on hand. A significant difference existed between everyday and festive food. It is interesting to note that the latter has best preserved an archaic character, while at the same time being the most receptive to accepting new elements. On Sunday, people always tried to have chicken soup and boiled fowl and, more recently, some sort of pastry. The meat of cattle counted as a feast and a rare food, but on the other hand pork was eaten in some form even on weekdays.

A standard menu was associated with the major holidays, although it varied according to region and religion. Thus the Catholics ate fasting kinds of foods on Christmas Eve: cabbage soup, bean soup, fish, and pastry without lard. The Calvinists eat pork-, beef-, or chicken soup and milk loaf, as fasting regulations do not restrict them even on this day, so that in some areas even stuffed cabbage occurs. The situation is different on Good Friday, because then all religious denominations fast. Some kind of sour soup (cibere, cabbage soup), lardless milk loaf and popcorn is the food for the day. On Easter Sunday chicken soup, milk loaf and turnovers occur most frequently; Catholics at this time eat pork. Ham is blessed and eaten still while the holiday lasts. Eating spring lamb is a novel practice that has spread only recently.

Special powers are attributed to certain foods, so that their consumption is tied to certain days. Thus mush is eaten at the New Year, in the belief that it will bring luck all the year round. Lentils eaten on Friday make the girls beautiful by Sunday. Small seeds (millet, poppy seeds, etc.) are eaten before sowing to make the harvest more plentiful. Eggs are eaten for the same reason, having in general always represented fertility in peasant superstitions.

Special meals are also associated with the outstanding events of life. The godmothers bring the midday meal to the women in confinement. This generally parallels the Sunday meal, although they always try to make some new dish or pastry, especially something that has just come into vogue. The chicken soup plays a great role in the order of the wedding feast, and in the Great Plain they cook a pastry made into snail-shapes in it. Boiled meat is eaten with horseradish or beets. Rarely are stuffed cabbage rolls absent from traditional food, especially in the central part of the linguistic region. We can find different versions of the wedding mush practically everywhere. It appears to be the oldest element of the diet. At wakes only brandy and bread is served, perhaps bacon, milk loaf, and recently leavened pastry. Only in rare cases do the mourners eat a meal of cooked food.