Jewish Cuisine in Hungary
András Koerner refuses to accept that the world of pre-Shoah Hungarian Jewry and its cuisine should disappear almost without a trace and feels compelled to reconstruct its culinary culture. His book—with a preface by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett—presents eating habits not as isolated things, divorced from their social and religious contexts, but as an organic part of a way of life.
According to Kirshenblatt-Gimblett: “While cookbooks abound, there is no other study that can compare with this book. It is simply the most comprehensive account of a Jewish food culture to date.” Indeed, no comparable study exists about the Jewish cuisine of any country, or, for that matter, about Hungarian cuisine. It describes the extraordinary diversity that characterized the world of Hungarian Jews, in which what could or could not be eaten was determined not only by absolute rules, but also by dietary traditions of particular religious movements or particular communities.
Ten chapters cover the culinary traditions and eating habits of Hungarian Jewry up to the 1940s, ranging from kashrut (the system of keeping the kitchen kosher) through the history of cookbooks, and some typical dishes. Although this book is primarily a cultural history and not a cookbook, it includes 83 recipes, as well as nearly 200 fascinating pictures of daily life and documents.
Co-published with Corvina Books
PREFACE by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
INTRODUCTION
1. KASHRUT
The Ritual Slaughter of Animals
The Koshering of Meat at Home
Separating Dairy and Meat Dishes
Pareve (Neither Meat, nor Dairy) Dishes and Ingredients
Kosher Wine
Kosher Milk and Dairy Products
Giving up Kashrut
Non-Jewish Views of Kashrut
2. ASHKENAZI JEWISH CUISINE
Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewry
A Short History of Ashkenazi Cuisine
3. HUNGARIAN JEWISH CUISINE
Seventeenth-Century Sephardi Influence
Nineteenth-Century Gastronomic Writers
Handwritten Recipe Collections
Nineteenth-Century Cookbooks
Early Twentieth-Century Pioneers of Jewish Ethnography
A Turn-of-the-Century Recipe Competition
Food and Increasing Secularization
Cookbooks in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
Post-1945 Cookbooks about Prewar Cooking
Some Characteristics of Hungarian Jewish Cuisine
Food and Hungarian Jewish Identity
Hungarian Influence on the Jewish Cuisine of Other Countries
4. REGIONAL AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
The Northeastern Regions and the Galician/Polish/Ukrainian Influence
Western Hungary and the Austrian/German Influence
The Northwestern Regions and the Bohemian/Moravian/Slovakian Influence
The Southern Regions and the Serbian/Croatian Influence
Transylvania and the Romanian Influence
5. WEEKDAYS AND HOLIDAYS
Dishes for Weekdays
Shabbat Dishes
Dishes for the Holiday of the New Moon
Dishes of Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur – Dishes for Before and After the Fast
Dishes of Sukkot
Dishes of Simchat Torah
Dishes of Hanukkah
Purim Dishes
Dishes for Pesach
Shavuot Dishes
Dishes for the Dairy Days and for the End of the Tisha B’av Fast
Dishes for the Birth of a Boy
Cakes for the First Day of Cheder
Cakes to Celebrate the First Exam in Cheder
Dishes for Bar Mitzvah
Dishes for Engagements and Weddings
Dishes for Mourning Ceremonies
6. HOUSEHOLDS
Rural and Small-Town Households
Keeping Geese
Urban Households
Canning
Maids
The Role of Cooking in the Lives of Jewish Women
Kitchen Furniture and Equipment
Dishes, Tableware, and Tablecloths
Ritual Plates, Cups, and Table Linen
7. DOMESTIC HOSPITALITY AND BANQUETS
Dinner and Supper Guests, Home Parties, and Salons
Banquets and Celebratory Meals
Rules of Good Manners at Meals
8. JEWISH PLACES OF HOSPITALITY
Kosher Restaurants and Boardinghouses
Coffeehouses, Coffee Shops, and Pastry Shops
Jewish Soup Kitchens
9. FOOD INDUSTRY AND TRADE
Kosher Food Factories
Kosher Wine Producers and Merchants
Food Shops and Street Vendors
Markets
10. CHARACTERISTIC DISHES
Challah
Gefilte Fish
Walnut Fish
Boiled Beef
Chopped Eggs
Cholent
Kugel
Ganef
Stuffed Goose Neck
Tzimmes
Flódni
Kindli
Hamantasche
Matzo Balls
Chremsel
Goose Giblets with Rice Pilaf
EPILOGUE
APPENDICES
1. Jewish Cookbooks Published in Hungary before 1945:
An Annotated Bibliography
2. Authors of the Handwritten Recipe Collections Used in This Book
3. List of Quoted Recipes
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Sources of Illustrations
Subject and Personal Names Index
Index of Foods
Acknowledgements