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Anikó Báti HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of Ethnology, Hungary

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Abstract

Food culture has played, and continues to play, an important role in the definition of identity and community cohesion. Food is not just a matter of sustenance but is also a cultural element with myriad links to the material world and to festive and everyday customs. Meals and individual dishes also function as mediators, providing a means and a channel of communication. Local communities select, reconstruct, or construct their common food heritage through their social discourse on the past, belonging, and locality. This paper presents the institutional framework for the management, preservation, and transmission of food-related traditions at the national and local levels in Hungary and looks at the practice of heritagization through one specific local example.

Abstract

Food culture has played, and continues to play, an important role in the definition of identity and community cohesion. Food is not just a matter of sustenance but is also a cultural element with myriad links to the material world and to festive and everyday customs. Meals and individual dishes also function as mediators, providing a means and a channel of communication. Local communities select, reconstruct, or construct their common food heritage through their social discourse on the past, belonging, and locality. This paper presents the institutional framework for the management, preservation, and transmission of food-related traditions at the national and local levels in Hungary and looks at the practice of heritagization through one specific local example.

Introduction

Food culture has played, and continues to play, an important role in defining identity and community cohesion, at both community and individual level. We are therefore talking not just about food but also about an aspect of culture with myriad links to the material world and to festive and everyday customs, which is determined by — among other things — the technical and technological standards of food production and processing, trade, and the hospitality industry, as well as the social and economic policy processes taking place in the background. All food, along with the customs associated with it, acts as a mediator, a means of communication, a channel that links the individual to the community, and the past to the present and future. In this way, food becomes “heritage” through the traditions associated with it.1 Nowadays, local communities select, reconstruct, or construct their common food heritage through their social discourse on the past, belonging, and locality. Local, regional, and national collections have been established for the organized documentation of the shared elements and values of the past. This paper discusses the institutional framework for the management, preservation, and transmission of food traditions in Hungary at both the national and local level. Using the local example of Baja fish soup and the city's Fish Soup Cooking Festival, I discuss the role of food culture in the practice of heritagization (ErdősiSonkoly 2004).

When researching food heritage, it is important to analyze those factors that today attract attention to food, food preparation techniques, and ingredients from the past, even where these have become party or entirely obsolete or have completely fallen out of everyday use. From heritage studies that have adopted an ethnographic approach,2 it appears that the main driving force behind this is the rejection of the process of standardization in food culture that results from globalization. Nowadays, as a result of a food supply that is based on international trade, and the wide range of options available on restaurant menus, our food culture has become diverse and independent of seasonality, and in many cases alienated from its local character. In modern consumer society, this trend was already perceptible in Western Europe towards the end of the twentieth century. As a result, the ways in which people are turning towards the past and reviving traditions are more diverse in Western Europe than in Hungary, where such ambitions have become a significant cultural force only in recent decades (Hartog 2000:17–22). Since the 1990s, influenced by festivals and gastro-tourism aimed at the discovery of new flavors and new locations, certain dishes have been elevated from everyday and festive menus and given a new role (Cramer et al. 2011; Knézy 2009). Alongside traditions that are still alive today, communities are selecting from these in order to continuously construct their own, newly created traditions. In this detached context, food is seen as an easily and universally understood symbol of the past. Nutrition is now the subject of widespread interest, and the act of cooking has been popularized by means of tourism and the media, which have turned it into a kind of “spectacle.” Food has become a commodity that can be sold even outside the catering sector, representing a locality or a region in the form of a brand that can be marketed as experience, or as a souvenir that can be gifted to others.

The revival of traditional dishes and the creation of heritage have represented a new trend in food culture research since the late 1990s. With its broader perspective, ethnographic research focuses on the collective identity processes underlying heritage (HoferNiedermüller 1987; Lovas Kiss 2011; Bali 2022b). Within the discipline of food culture research, the topic is approached primarily from the perspective of the cultural practices associated with local communities, and their festive and everyday customs and rituals, by means of the following and similar questions: What becomes heritage and what does not? What is prized as unique? And why are certain practices exclusive to certain communities? (With respect to terminology, it should be noted that Hungarian usage is still under development. In the absence of an appropriate Hungarian equivalent, the English term food heritage was used even in the original Hungarian version of the present study, as offering the most comprehensive definition of the specific element of cultural heritage on which the study focuses.)

Nostalgia-based gastro-tourism and catering, as well as the countercultural efforts that have emerged in response to globalization, have directed researchers' interest towards processes that re/upvalue, revitalize, and transform traditional foodways. Festivalization, along with the institutionalization and listing of heritage, are among the new phenomena that have attracted the attention of ethnographers, who have typically analyzed practices in relation to eating, tradition preservation, and heritage formation in this context (Lysaght ed. 1998; Köstlin 1998; Kisbán 2006, 2013; Báti, 2008, 2013, 2016, 2019). Analyzing the relationship between the past, heritage, and locality, critically oriented researchers have suggested that communities in fact protect, preserve, or create their own heritage through the created symbolic capital (Köstlin 2013; BrulotteDi Giovine 2014).

The popularization of the customs and traditions associated with eating is one of the recurrent elements in cultural identity–building, territorial development projects, and community initiatives that has recently been studied by various disciplines using different approaches and methods. In the social sciences, it is analyzed primarily as a social construct and as a source of local (mainly tourism development) campaigns and projects (Csurgó 2013, 2014; CsurgóSzatmári 2014).

Food as a symbol of community

It was in the early modern period that a specific dish first became one of the most important symbols of Hungary. In the saying “Cabbage stew is Hungary's coat of arms” (Kisbán 1989), the dish comprising sauerkraut stewed with meat and bacon was not necessarily being held up as the “national” dish, although it was typical of the country as a whole, featuring in the diet of all social strata as part of both everyday and festive meals. However, this particular dish did not distinguish Hungarian cuisine from that of neighboring countries and regions, where it was likewise popular. During the late eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, however, when the concept of heritage first emerged in Europe in relation to the idea of the nation-state — in the period of “food nationalism”3 — cabbage stew was no longer considered to be a sufficient expression of the uniqueness of Hungarian culture compared to Austrian culture, either within or beyond the borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.4 From then on, Hungarian identity would be symbolized not only by means of dress5 but also by a meat stew cooked with paprika, the simple dish known as gulyás [goulash]6 that was eaten by common people and by the cattle herders of the Great Hungarian Plain (Kisbán 1989:104–106).

In the early nineteenth century, the dish was referred to as Gulasch in Vienna, paprikás (paprikash) in Central Hungary, and pörkölt [stew] in Pest. The basic ingredient was not always beef: pörkölt could also be made from pork, while paprikás could be made from chicken or fish. These variations in the name of the “national symbol” have not been standardized in Hungarian or international tourism and catering ever since. Thus, based on the word gulyás (Kisbán 1989: 96, 2004a, 2004b; Tóth 2005), the most recent version of the dish — goulash soup — made with stock and vegetables, became a regular feature of the Gulasch parties held in the framework of programs organized by the Hungarian travel agency IBUSZ for international tourists from the 1970s (Slachta 2014).

Following the change of regime, local communities launched a series of new events and festivals aimed at strengthening their identity and building a sense of togetherness using elements of their shared past.7 At the same time, these programs also became a source of income for local entrepreneurs. Efforts were made to center these newly created traditions and gastronomic festivals around dishes and ingredients that could be presented as symbols, local specialties, or the main attraction of the celebration (Sári 2006; Lysaght ed. 1998). Some of these events now have a history going back several years and are organized according to a well-established routine that serves as a model for similar programs. The Baja Fish Soup Cooking Festival, for example, which will be discussed in greater detail below, attracts huge crowds. The majority of festivals are, however, targeted at smaller audiences, and since almost every settlement endeavors to present something unique, the festival map is diverse. Foods promoted as symbolic (e.g., pumpkins, cherries, asparagus, meat jelly, strudels, or stew) are rarely exclusively associated with one particular village or town. Some are typical of Hungarian cuisine as a whole, while others are specific to a particular subregion or to a group of settlements characterized by the same religion or nationality. The choice of a particular ingredient or dish is also influenced by the meals featured in the programs organized for a similar purpose in neighboring settlements.

The European Union and the mapping of Hungarian values

The characteristic features of the country's regions are derived from features of the natural landscape and from the ethnic and religious diversity of their inhabitants. Efforts are made to emphasize these unique, historically rooted, yet still tangible features for touristic purposes, by making them the center of events and tours. Such features are even marketable at European level and attract both Hungarian and foreign tourists (Fejős 1998; Pusztai 2003). Local foods are now just as appealing as the landscape or other cultural values: people may visit a particular town or village simply to sample the local specialties. In recent decades, festivals, as well as foodways and wine routes, have been developed throughout the country to meet this demand, with the involvement of restaurants and private kitchens. Homemade preserves, honeys, baked goods, and wines that can be purchased locally but that are not commercially available are presented to tourists as the uniquely valuable experience of “past times” (Liesenfeld 2000; Pusztai 2008).

Food trends that have emerged in opposition to global food production and global trade favor seasonal products and the use of local ingredients and artisanal techniques. “Farm to fork” food production and small-scale producers' markets are becoming increasingly widespread in Hungary, largely reaching back to traditional peasant culture in terms of the techniques and ingredients used.

The term Hungarikum was coined in the 1990s to refer to non-mass-produced Hungarian products promoted by agricultural marketing and the advertising industry. By way of preparation for the Collection of Hungarikums, work began in 1998, with the involvement of ethnographers, to compile a collection of traditional and regional agricultural and food products that are still popular today. The work was part of the “Euroterroirs” agricultural marketing program, a French initiative also recognized by the European Union (Paládi-Kovács 2015:11–12). At EU level, the objective was for all member states to take stock of their traditional and regional agricultural products, along with their production methods. In preparation for Hungary's accession to the EU, the Agricultural Marketing Center coordinated the collection and documentation of the history, as well as the agricultural and food industrial use, of 300 products up to the year 2000 (HÍR 2003). The values collected within the framework of the program were placed under legal protection as “national treasures” by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.8 This led to the creation of the Traditions – Flavors – Regions (HÍR) trademark. Products were listed as “Traditional Specialities Guaranteed” (TSGs) in the Register of Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs, and descriptions of them were included in the chapter on TSGs in the Codex Alimentarius Hungaricus. However, surveys have shown that the commercial appeal of such foodstuffs and agricultural products, protected by geographical indications of origin, remains very low. Without sufficient marketing support, consumer preferences will scarcely be influenced by this distinction (PanyorVörös 2021). The skills required to produce legally protected products in a certified form can be acquired only with many years of experience. However, this process restricts the expansion of the circle of producers. As a result, the customer base for legally protected products is very limited (May 2013:285–287).

Catering and gastronomic heritage

The restaurant set up next to the Hungarian pavilion at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels symbolized the direction of development in Hungarian culinary training and the catering industry in the second half of the twentieth century. Besides regional wines, the restaurant served chicken paprikash, galuska [egg noodle dumplings], and strudel; moreover, it was here that the chef and confectioner János Rákóczi first introduced the cottage cheese cake that was named after him.9 Following this success, the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Party passed a resolution, in the spirit of social political consolidation, that Hungarian cuisine should be promoted abroad.10

The trend of emphasizing regional rather than national characteristics,11 which began in Western Europe in the 1980s, reached Hungarian gourmet restaurants in the 2000s. This tendency was based on the agricultural marketing and gastro-tourism trends described above. Alongside Michelin-starred restaurants such as Costes and Onyx, numerous new bakeries, pastry shops, and restaurants opened not only in Budapest but throughout the country. These restaurants initiated an agricultural revival by utilizing local, seasonal ingredients and drawing on traditional peasant knowledge. This trend was consolidated by the Hungarian National Gastronomic Association, which was founded in 2004. Published in 2007, the Culinary Charter12 marked a turning point: guidelines for the renewal of Hungarian gastronomy were formulated by the management of the profession as a shared goal. In parallel with the nurturing of tradition, their ambition was to move beyond the decades-old, self-proclaimed myth of “deservedly famous Hungarian cuisine” by relying on high-quality local ingredients and well-trained professionals. Since 2006, the Hungarian National Gastronomic Association has been organizing the cooking competition “Tradition and Evolution,” which also serves as the qualifying round for the Bocuse d’Or, one of the world's most prestigious gastronomic competitions.

The Hungarian National Gastronomic Alliance, which was established earlier, adopted a slightly different approach. Its aim was to promote fine dining restaurants, to achieve the highest possible standards, and to put Hungary on the gastronomic world map. The Bocuse d’Or Academy was established for this purpose, with the support of the Hungarian Government. The Pannon Gastronomic Academy was founded in 2016 and has since been organizing the Hungarian stage of the Bocuse d’Or contest, with the support of the Hungarian Tourism Agency. Hungary first took part in the Bocuse d’Or gastronomy contest in 2013, and Hungarian competitors have participated successfully ever since. In 2023, Bence Dalnoki and his team finished in third place.13 Fine dining restaurants and leading gastronomic organizations are, however, shaping the present and the immediate future side by side, albeit with partly different goals. This process is often referred to in the press as the “gastronomic revolution.”14

In 2011, during the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a series of events were held to showcase Hungary and to promote the country's image to the rest of Europe by means of its cuisine. Politicians and diplomats from EU member states gathered in various locations in Hungary and were treated to the very best of Hungarian gastronomy. The principles of this hospitality reflected the innovative processes outlined above. However, this was about more than just dishes and meals: in the language of diplomacy, every detail was endowed with added value, thus the question to be answered was whether the offer also met European standards. The menus and wines were selected by a team of experts that included master chefs and winemakers. Their aim was to come up with a unique, creative way of entertaining discerning guests by blending Hungarian and European, as well as modern and traditional elements. A focus on Hungarian wines was an important organizing principle, thus in terms of menu planning, the usual order was reversed, with the individual courses being chosen to accompany the wines. Numerous larger and smaller wine cellars from five regions were included, and regional dishes were selected to go with them. The individual dishes were inspired by the flavors of traditional Hungarian cuisine in terms of ingredients and seasonings, although they also incorporated the innovative and unique combinations of flavors found in molecular gastronomy. The chefs also incorporated ingredients previously excluded from everyday cooking for reasons of prestige, including millet, buckwheat, Jerusalem artichokes, and spelt. In terms of the selected meats, Mangalica pork and beef from Hungarian Grey cattle were showcased, although venison and guinea fowl were also on offer. The most unusual item on the menu was Mangalica bacon foam, served as a dressing. Although pálinka, the characteristic Hungarian fruit brandy, did not feature on the menu, guests were able to sample it as soon as they arrived at the airport, with 20 mL shots available from a vending machine. Most of the meals were served in locations such as museums, rather than restaurants, which significantly influenced the selection of dishes, the cooking techniques used, and the way the food was served (Győri et al. 2012).

Food heritage and the institutional framework for cultural heritage preservation in Hungary

Since 2012, the Collection of Hungarikums – Collection of Hungarian Values15 has been developed in parallel with the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage,16 as part of a government initiative (Paládi-Kovács 2015; Bali 2022a, 2022b), although Hungarikums are not automatically included in the Inventory. A separate committee deals with protected goods that symbolize Hungarianness, including agricultural products, alcoholic drinks, and processed foods that reflect the country's regional diversity and emphasize the local aspect of heritage. Based on local initiatives and settlement-specific registers of values, the ever-expanding National Inventory includes proposals associated with the themes of nature, culture, agriculture, food, tourism, and hospitality, based on criteria that differ from the UNESCO regulations. Submissions build on one another in pyramid form, from the local level to the county and national lists. The National Inventory is a collection of outstanding values identified by the Committee for Hungarikums. From among these items, a value representing “the high performance of the Hungarian people thanks to its typically Hungarian attribute, uniqueness, specialty, and quality”17 may be incorporated into the Collection of Hungarikums, most of which are popular products of the Hungarian agricultural and food industries. In this heritage list, individual items of traditional peasant food, which in most cases were not even festive dishes but were rather part of the everyday diet, are now turned into regional and national symbols. The products are also legally protected by trademarks before being marketed in Hungary or internationally.18

The Collection of Hungarikums 2022

Agriculture and Food Industry category:

Pálinka; Grape marc palinka; Csabai sausage and Csabai thick sausage; Tokaji aszú produced in the Tokaj wine region of Hungary; Food products from fattened goose; Gyulai sausage and Gyulai double sausage; Soda water; Ground paprika from Kalocsa; PICK wintersalami; Hungarian acacia honey; HERZ Classic wintersalami; Red onions from Makó; Ground paprika from Szeged; Hungarian Grey cattle; UNICUM herbal liqueur; Debrecen double sausage; Spritzer; Chimney cake; Piros Arany and Erős Pista (paprika-based condiments); Törley sparkling wine; Egri bikavér (red wine); Paprika from Szentes.

Tourism and Hospitality category:

Karcag mutton stew; Gundel heritage – Gastronomic and catering trade heritage of Károly Gundel and the Gundel Restaurant; Fish soup from Baja; Fisherman's soup from the region of Tisza; Hungarian goulash soup; Dobos Cake; Pozsonyi kifli / Pressburger Kipferl; Lángos (Fried flatbread).

Food heritage became part of the UNESCO World Heritage List relatively late, in 2010, when it was added as an aspect of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Importantly, according to the rules, a product or a dish cannot be designated; it is only the customs, knowledge, traditions, production, processing, and consumption practices associated with it that can be included on the list.

Examples of food heritage from the UNESCO Representative List:

  • 2010. Gastronomic meal of the French

  • 2010. Traditional Mexican cuisine – ancestral, ongoing community culture, the Michoacán paradigm

  • 2013. Kimjang, making and sharing kimchi in the Republic of Korea

  • 2013. Mediterranean diet, Cyprus et al.

  • 2013. Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year

  • 2015. Arabic coffee, a symbol of generosity

  • 2015. Tradition of kimchi-making in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

  • 2017. Art of Neapolitan ‘Pizzaiuolo’

On closer examination, the food heritage elements featured on the UNESCO Representative List are striking in terms of the diversity and lack of comparability among the listed values that symbolize a particular country's food culture towards the rest of the world. Elements isolated from the constant change and movement of culture appear almost like a frozen image. In some cases, a completely ordinary food, or a dish or custom that has been excluded from everyday practice for reasons of prestige, takes center stage. Some of the items on the UNESCO list have been recommended by experts, with a focus on the important aspect of nutrition and diet, while other items have been promoted by chefs, who have highlighted the dish itself and the way in which it is prepared. In some cases, territoriality is the central organizing principle behind the nomination, while in other cases the proposal has been prompted by a connection with craftsmanship.

Since 2006, the Directorate of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which operates under UNESCO, has been responsible for the management of Hungarian cultural values and heritage elements. The directorate collects and manages submissions, conservation based on living traditions, and good practices of transmission to future generations.

Food heritage elements in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2021)

  • 2009. The Mutton Stew Tradition of the Cumania Region in Karcag

  • 2012. The “Miller's Wafer” Tradition in Borsodnádasd

  • 2013. The Tradition of Plum Jam Preparation in Szatmár-Bereg Region

  • 2021. The Living Cooking Tradition of Baja Fisherman's Soup.

Baja fisherman's soup as food heritage

The items in the Hungarian National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage related to food culture are essentially representative of the principle of territoriality. An important consideration in the nomination and inclusion of Baja fisherman's soup on the list19 in 2021 was the fact that it represents a still living tradition and is associated with the first Hungarian gastronomic festival. Submitted to the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Association of Baja Fisherman's Soup Cooking Champions, the Order of the Knights of Baja Fisherman's Soup Cooking, and Baja City Council, the application under the title Living Cooking Tradition of Baja Fisherman's Soup summarizes the preparation of fish soup, a very popular dish associated with Baja and its surroundings, as well as the related social and community traditions.20

On entering the town, visitors are greeted by a huge sign reading “Welcome to the capital of fish soup.”21 The slogan symbolizes the social base — from small family groups to civil society organizations — for whom the cooking and consumption of fisherman's soup is hugely significant, both on festival days and on any other day of the week. The image constructed around fisherman's soup is also a key element at the level of tourism, hospitality, and family celebrations. In the public mind, the name of the city is closely associated with the local version of fish soup. Lying on the border between two important regions in Hungary — the Great Plain and Transdanubia — Baja's geographical location has made it an important center of trade, shipping, and fishing for centuries. The impact of this role may explain why the method used to cook Danube fish soup, which is highly popular in the middle reaches of the Danube today, is nowadays generally associated with the city of Baja. For the local community, the dish is their own particular specialty; observed from other parts of the country, this same dish may represent the region; while from outside the country, it might even represent the national cuisine (Brulotte – Di Giovine eds. 2014; Carr et al. 2018:145–151).22

Each July since 1996, Baja has hosted the Fish Soup Cooking Folk Festival (known since 2006 as the Fish Soup Cooking Festival), when families and groups of friends prepare Baja-style fisherman's soup in hundreds of cauldrons, with the record number exceeding 2,000. The recipe, preparation method, and presentation are all distinctive elements that are unique to the region. Baja fish soup is made fresh in a cauldron over an open fire, without stock or thickening. It is seasoned with salt, paprika, and red onion. The soup is served separately from the fish, with matchstick pasta (kneaded, cooked pasta cut into thin strips).

The importance of fish soup in Baja eating habits contrasts with typical fish consumption practices in Hungary. This is due to historical reasons. Compared to the Middle Ages, a significant reduction in fish consumption can be observed in Hungary from the second half of the nineteenth century, owing to the river regulation work that limited free access to fresh fish. The rich selection of fish dishes found in the cuisine of the upper classes, including recipes for sour fish soups made with vegetables, sour cream, and a variety of different fish, are now to be found only in special thematic cookbooks. In the late nineteenth century, peasants were mostly able to obtain fresh fish only from fishermen. The fishermen themselves were specialists when it came to fish dishes; they were even given fish as part of their wages, from which they made their daily meals when away from home. This explains why fish dishes are associated with men — as the name “fisherman's soup” suggests. (The dish known today as fisherman's soup was known more commonly among fishermen as “fish paprikash.”) Fishermen prepared their fish dishes in many different ways, including frying and boiling, and as soup or stews. The numerous recipes from the Middle Ages include many that have been preserved in practice almost to the present day (Szilágyi 1997b:81–103).

The popularity of fishman's soup stems from the fresh fish prepared by fishermen over an open fire for upper- and middle-class guests at the fish restaurants near where the fish were caught.23 In the 18th and 19th centuries, local variants of fish soup24 were increasingly to be found not just among fishermen but in bourgeois kitchens and on restaurant tables, becoming the most popular fish dish in the country. It was often the leaders of fishermen's associations, as entrepreneurs, who opened the first restaurants serving fish soup, both on the banks of the Tisza in Szeged and on the banks of the Danube in Baja. The ground paprika was a staple of peasant cuisine from the first half of the eighteenth century. However, the use of it can be traced back only to the mid-nineteenth century: it gives the characteristic color and flavor to fisherman's soup — fish cooked in plenty of liquid, nowadays the most popular variety of fish soup. The preparation of stock for the soup, and thickening it with fish meat, are time-consuming and labor-intensive processes, thus this method of preparation, known as the Szeged method, was less widespread in fish restaurants. The non-thickened version of fisherman's soup has survived to the present day in Baja and its surroundings. The soup was made richer and more filling by the addition of kneaded, boiled noodles, and sometimes potatoes, if the soup was eaten without bread. It was also justified by the fact that the boiled fish was served either as a soup or as a separate dish. The difference in the preparation of Szeged- and Baja-style fish soup is a clear example of regional differentiation in food culture. The popularity of fisherman's soup in Hungary coincided with the above-mentioned elevation of goulash, stew, and paprikash into national symbols.

Fish consumption decreased significantly during the twentieth century, in terms of both the amount of fish consumed and the recipes used, while average national consumption is almost negligible by European standards. Nevertheless, fisherman's soup has been promoted from an everyday meal for men to a festive dish, and today it enjoys greater prestige as a national symbol than goulash, stew, or paprikash. Fish soup has become a popular dish not only in restaurants but also in family settings, where it is often the only fish dish consumed. As part of the advent meal on December 24, fish soup has become almost “mandatory” throughout the country.

The history of Baja fisherman's soup can be seen in the context of national tendencies and is a regional variant of them. However, its role and significance in food culture does show some local characteristics. This has been pointed out by, among others, the ethnographers Ede Solymos and Ferenc Erdei (Solymos 1964, 1965, 1970; Erdei 1981) in their studies on the history and recent practices of fishing and fish dishes along the Danube. In local cuisine, the traditional cooking, by men, of fish soup in a cauldron over an open fire, using fresh fish, has not lost its significance over time; on the contrary, it has become a central element in community life and has been incorporated into menus on numerous festive occasions. It has maintained its place and its role even amidst the challenges of urbanization: thus, for example, Baja is the only place in the country where fireplaces for cooking fish soup in cauldrons have been built in the communal spaces on housing estates. In the city's suburban areas, there are dedicated spaces for the preparation and cooking of fish within the household, often in the garden. Some households even have a separate summer kitchen that is used for preparing fish. There is a local protocol for the cooking and consumption of fish, which is an important aspect of community life. Guests are expected to arrive for the start of the cooking, as once the soup is ready, it is served immediately.

The cooking of fish soup is hugely important in the life of the community, and this is the basis for its heritagization. It is clear from the application submitted by Baja to the Directorate of Intangible Cultural Heritage that the traditions created and constructed around this dish also play an important role in emphasizing and strengthening local identity. The city council — along with local civil society leaders, the Association of Champions (founded in 2012), and the Order of Knights of Baja Fisherman's Soup Cooking, which was founded in 2017 and works on the basis of invitation — play a guiding and organizational role in the development of this tradition and its integration into the life of the city. The starting point was the organization, in 1996, of the family-oriented Fisherman's Soup Cooking Folk Festival, based on the elevation of fish soup into a symbol. The festival, which was a first for the country, was given protected designation of origin. Since its inception, this popular event has been a catalyst for many other processes aimed at the preservation and revival of traditions. The pear-shaped cauldron, which is essential for cooking fish soup, is an item frequently used by many families in Baja and is still made by a renowned local artisan. Another essential element is the distinctive matchstick pasta; although the dough is no longer kneaded fresh in every household, it is available all year round from a local specialist workshop that has now grown into a small manufactory dedicated expressly to the production of Baja fish soup. The soup is served in a deep dish and the boiled fish is served separately. A local ceramicist today produces specially designed dishes for this purpose. A spoon for tasting soup from the cauldron is another new piece of equipment that can also be found as a competition prize, while a red tablecloth is another common accessory when laying the table for a meal of fish soup.

Conclusion

Today, the Living Cooking Tradition of Baja Fisherman's Soup is a family and municipal event, a symbol and an integral aspect of the self-image and collective identity of the people of Baja. It is not only an authentic dish and culinary occasion, a living practice that creates and revives traditions, but it is also a community event based around the fish dish and popularized by its festivalization. The preparation method is part of both adults' and children's cooking skills, making it a central element of local cohesion and community belonging.25

Baja has turned the festival — constructed around the iconic tradition of “Baja fisherman's soup making” for which the city is famous — into an exemplary national event by means of its local economy and tourism. Inscribed in both the National Inventory and the Collection of Hungarikums, the event is a fine example of the successful heritagization of food culture. The people of Baja have utilized the past and present of their local food culture in the service of community preservation (Bendix 1989). Inclusion on the list has also authenticated the practice of fish soup cooking in Baja, although in its present form it appears as a kind of frozen, canonized image of the custom, while at the same time providing for its legal protection. The extent to which the festival can be maintained in this form — as an integral aspect of the city's identity, as a tourist-oriented event that takes place in the city's main square, and as a “household routine” — will depend on the community behind it: the people of Baja who organize the festival.

Acknowledgements

The study is published with the support of ELKH research project SA-35/2021, Heritagization, Cultural Memory, Identity; and NRDI project K_22 142797 (K_22 143295), Heritage Constructions in Contemporary Community Settings – Identity, Memory, Representation.

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Anikó Báti (PhD) has been a senior research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology, HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities, since 2009. She gained her PhD in ethnography and cultural anthropology from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, in 2005. She has written three monographs and several scientific articles and papers on food culture and was editor of Ethnography, the journal of the Hungarian Ethnographical Society between 2013 and 2022. Her current areas of research include recent foodways, lifestyle, and eating habits. She is leader of the interdisciplinary research group focusing on school canteens in Hungary. The project is supported by the National Research, Development, and Innovation Fund of Hungary.

1

For a Hungarian interpretation of the heritage concept, see, for example: Sonkoly 2000; Erdősi – Sonkoly 2004; Fejős 2003; Jakab – Vajda 2018; Vajda 2016; Borbély – Ispán 2019; Cseh 2019, 2022.

3

During the nineteenth century, in the period of food nationalism, every European nation sought to establish its own borders by symbolically highlighting a particular dish. For further details, see: Porciani 2019:3–32.

4

For the similar history of the Viennese schnitzel, see: Horel 2019.

5

On the relationship between costume and identity, see, for example: Fülemile 1991, 2018, 2020.

6

“In the households of the upper gentry, the dish was typically stigmatized, even decades later, as peasant food. At the same time — owing to its Hungarian character — the dish gained popularity in the rapidly expanding Austrian catering industry: made from carefully selected cuts of meat and quality ingredients, it was served on the tables of the aristocracy, and it also featured in the cookbooks of the nobility and bourgeoisie….The Austrian catering industry, which was then emerging as a regional culinary center, subsequently helped to spread the popularity of the dish, still under its Hungarian name, thus establishing its international reputation, which continues to be associated with Hungary today. Two other factors should be taken into account with respect to the way this dish was transformed into a symbol. The first is that the simple composition of the dish, which consists of small pieces of stewed meat, is a common feature across many cultures, from Norway to distant Asia. At the time of its emergence in Hungary, Hungarian travelers described it in the nearer regions of the Ottoman-Turkish Empire, where it was made with paprika. The other factor is that this dish from the Great Plain long remained virtually unknown in the rest of the country, while it was a common and popular dish in one large region only, and even there among the common people.” (Kisbán 2006:632–633)

7

For example: Juhász 2019. The development of festivals can also be seen as a process of canonization. Pusztai 2008:116.

8

Decree No. 1/1998 (I.12) of the Ministry of Agriculture regulated the certification of TSGs (ingredients, traditional production methods, and composition) of certain foodstuffs of particular importance.

10

https://mkvm.hu/a-brusszeli-vilagkiallitas-1/ Transsystemic Fantasies: Counterrevolutionary Hungary at Brussels Expo '58. (accessed October 1, 2023)

11

The Nordic Kitchen trend in Scandinavia should be mentioned here, along with restaurants such as Noma in Copenhagen. https://noma.dk/ (accessed October 5, 2022)

15

https://www.hungarikum.hu/en (accessed October 1, 2023)

17

Act XXX of 2012 on Hungarian National Values and Hungarikums https://net.jogtar.hu/jogszabaly?docid=a1200030.tv (English translation: https://www.hungarikum.hu/sites/default/files/jog/htveng.pdf) (accessed October 1, 2023)

18

On the role of the state and of national and local politics in the process of cultural heritage formation, see Bendix et al. (eds.) 2012.

19

The dish was added to the list of Hungarikums in 2015. https://www.hungarikum.hu/en/content/baja-fish-soup (accessed October 1, 2023)

21

Fisherman's soup is a kind of local brand in this case. For further details, see: Pusztai 2008.

22

The authenticity of a dish and the way it is prepared, or the true (original) ownership by a settlement or nation of a particular heritage (element), may occasionally raise questions or even become the subject of controversy (Wilhelm 2007).

23

On the subject of Baja fisherman's soup and fish consumption in Hungary, see, for example: Pusztai – Neill (ed.) 2007; Solymos 1964, 1965, 1970; Szilágyi 1997a, 1997b, 2006, 2019.

24

Hungary's major rivers, the Danube and the Tisza, and the area surrounding its largest lake, Balaton, also boast their own popular varieties of fish soup. These are prepared in different ways.

25

The long-term impact of inclusion on the World Heritage List on communities, dishes, and eating habits will need further study in the future (cf. Csonka-Takács 2020:68–70).

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Senior Editors

Editor-in-Chief: Ágnes FÜLEMILE
Associate editors: Fruzsina CSEH;
Zsuzsanna CSELÉNYI

Review Editors: Csaba MÉSZÁROS; Katalin VARGHA

Editorial Board
  • Balázs BALOGH (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
  • Elek BARTHA (University of Debrecen)
  • Balázs BORSOS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
  • Miklós CSERI (Hungarian Open Air Museum, the Skanzen of Szentendre)
  • Lajos KEMECSI (Museum of Ethnography)
  • László KÓSA (Eötvös University, Budapest)
  • lldikó LANDGRAF (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
  • Tamás MOHAY (Eötvös University, Budapest)
  • László MÓD (University of Szeged)
  • Attila PALÁDI-KOVÁCS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities and Eötvös University, Budapest)
  • Gábor VARGYAS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities and University of Pécs)
  • Vilmos VOIGT (Eötvös University, Budapest)
Advisory Board
  • Marta BOTÍKOVÁ (Bratislava, Slovakia)
  • Daniel DRASCEK (Regensburg, Germany)
  • Dagnoslaw DEMSKI (Warsaw, Poland)
  • Ingrid SLAVEC GRADIŠNIK (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
  • Dmitriy A. FUNK (Moscow, Russia)
  • Chris HANN (Halle, Germany)
  • Krista HARPER (Amherst, MA USA)
  • Anya PETERSON ROYCE (Bloomington, IN USA)
  • Ferenc POZSONY (Cluj, Romania)
  • Helena RUOTSALA (Turku, Finland)
  • Mary N. TAYLOR (New York, NY USA)
  • András ZEMPLÉNI (Paris, France)

Further credits

Translators: Elayne ANTALFFY; Zsuzsanna CSELÉNYI; Michael KANDÓ
Layout Editor: Judit MAHMOUDI-KOMOR
Cover Design: Dénes KASZTA

Manuscripts and editorial correspondence:

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
Institute of Ethnology
Research Centre for the Humanities
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
H-1453 Budapest, Pf. 33
E-mail: actaethnographicahungarica@gmail.com

Reviews:
Mészáros, Csaba or Vargha, Katalin review editors
Institute of Ethnology
Research Centre for the Humanities
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
H-1453 Budapest, Pf. 33
E-mail: meszaros.csaba@btk.mta.hu or vargha.katalin@btk.mta.hu

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2023  
Scopus  
CiteScore 0.6
CiteScore rank Q2 (Music)
SNIP 0.369
Scimago  
SJR index 0.164
SJR Q rank Q2

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Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
Language English
Size B5
Year of
Foundation
1950
Volumes
per Year
1
Issues
per Year
2
Founder Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
Founder's
Address
H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher
Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 1216-9803 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2586 (Online)

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