The quality of the produce and the diversity of food stands at the Lehel Market is exceptional, and we could have easily listed many more highlights.

Pogácsa, which usually gets a loose translation as ‘scones’ or ‘biscuits,’ are everywhere in Hungary. Pogácsa, or ‘pogi’ for short, also seem to be compulsory for most organized social gatherings.

We hesitate to call zsemle beloved, they are definitely depended upon. More convenient than a kilo or half kilo of your standard Hungarian loaf of bread, not mass produced yet inexpensive enough to be…

Hekk is a curious fish to find in Hungary, as it is a sea fish, and Hungary is a landlocked country. How hekk became so popular locally is still a bit murky. WHat is not disputed is that the most Hung…

Főzelék is a lunchtime staple as much as any gulyás or paprikás. It is the unheralded anchor of any étkezdé’s (lunch canteen) menu. It’s popular with good reason, and taken very seriously.

A good csontvelő (bone marrow) is worth a trip across town for, worth planning an evening around. You may have to, because it is not the easiest dish to find.

The thing about frog legs is that you can’t dither. If you are fixing to get frog legs, you shouldn’t hesitate. For one thing, they are a very easy dish to talk yourself out of. For another, even plac…

You can see why Jokai was so taken with the soup. Jókai bableves has a rich, nourishing flavor that intoxicates and demands to be overindulged in. The meal is hearty in the truest sense of the word. W…

Is there any commonly eaten food more divisive than liver? Loved and loathed in equal measures, it is also the cheapest cut at the market but the most expensive item on the menu. Banned, fetishized, r…

Due to its heaviness, lángos is a meal best eaten when it has been worked for in one way or another. Dough deep fried, brushed with minced garlic and topped with various other fatty delights like smok…

Gesztenyepüré is a beloved Hungarian dessert. While you can get it year round, chestnuts are seasonal, so its flavors resonate most in autumn. There is something of a nostalgic feel to the dessert, at…

In Budapest, some dishes go out of style, only to be re-introduced years later as more expensive ‘retro’ fare. It also happens that some dishes disappear not to be seen again.

Flódni is a traditional Hungarian Jewish confection. With fillings of poppy, walnut, apple, and plum jam, separated by five layers of sweet pastry, its flavors of tart, bitter, and sweet meld together…

More than fortification for the coming party, the midnight cabbage represents a kind refusal to give in.

Every now and again a word gets mistranslated, and that mistranslation is picked up on and replicated until it’s been hopelessly absorbed into common usage.

If you haven’t heard of Mangalica, don’t feel left out. The fact that there is any of it at all is a small miracle.

Lecsó as a noun is known in flippant company as the Hungarian ratatouille, the dish that’s not really a stew, not a soup, not exactly a side dish, but somehow takes characteristics of all these.

Though Hungarians’ fondness for horse meat is far from universal among the population, a demand for it persists and horse sausage is still commonly found at market halls around Budapest.