"Chilli Capital," Kalocsa, Hungary

Kalocsa Town:
You can smell the stuff when you pull into town. The plants are ripe for picking, and a pungent aroma from the processing factories fills the air. It’s such an important cash crop that the locals even call it "Red Gold."

It was 3 hours train ride from Budapest. However, there is 2 hours wait at Kiskoros town, because there is not much direct train from Budapest to Kalocsa direct on Saturday. So what the Heeee.....I started drinking Hugarian Rose Wine. About half way down the bottle, I started to talk to the locals at the Kiskoros train station. There is one woman had such a good time with me, she started giving me juicy plums for our trips. Another man was so happy that I shared my drinks with him, he stated offering me the local lñiquor (70% alc), strong stuff. So I am pretty much drunk, by the time the train arrives. I didn have memory of Kalocsa train station, but only the smell of Pepperika and their Gulasch. Boy-oh-Boy so much food in HUGE pots, so many different kind of peppers and the next thing I know, I was drinking with the police chief and his family at the fair and I have Paprika Ristras around my neck.

Apparently, I was also talking to Anna, who is a local reporter for the fair. She invited us to her house, fed us Pizza in the evening, continue drinking and headed out to the pub for more drinks. At that time I was done drinking (around 10pm). I couldn't take anymore, so I stopped and did not touch the Vodka and RedWine that they had. We also meet up with some of our Hostels-buddies from Budapest at the fair. So here we are one big drunken group in the Kalosca Town.

Had a very good time, tried out their mini potatoes, fish soup, different kind of Gulasch dishes, local dance, music and busy talking with locals in the fair. I noticed, Hungarian will put up a strong face at first, but then later on when you started talking to them they will start inviting you to their house for more food and more drinks.

I love Hungary, the people and its culture! One of my favourite country and also to revisit again in the future.

Kezes-Labos: Festival of Etyek, Hungary

I have never thought this way for the Gastrtonomy and Culture show. I only thought one thing - marketing! But now, Hugary taught me how to also think - in earthly manner as well...

The philosophy and goal of the festival
"Your life is on your table, i.e. the day of copious meals"
September-23-2006

Culture has arisen when mankind settled and brought land into cultivation for the first time. Culture ends when mankind detaches itself from the land.

We have to regain the ability of living in the landscape, instead of dominating over or fighting against it. What we have on our table is reserved to our stomach, but it arrives at our head and inflicts our mind. Synthetic dairy products, puffed-up and tasteless vegetables, decorative but indigestible artificial fruits and the plastic-meat of the cattle nurtured on plastic-fodder … all of them are the wastage of the lifeless soil.

We are searching for the living man in the living landscape, who is longing for the soil, seeking beauty, goodness and delight, and is also able to preserve things of importance. Who is not counting time in pennies. We are searching for the baker whose bread is made of crops, the jam-maker who collects the most beautiful fruit and the cheese-manufacturer who uses full-cream milk. We are searching for the man who tends his environment with the work of his own hands. The chemical basis of dynamite and fertiliser is the same, and they both destruct the soil. The land does not need fertilisers – it needs us.

Fast food, fast death, short life. The path to enjoyable life does not lead through the incredibly overcomplicated meals or shiny luxury restaurants, but through people creating something from the pure soil, enjoying their work. Get to know them to let them get to know you. Try their work and taste the shine of the sun, the flesh of the Earth, the power of the plants, the pleasure of honey, the blood of wine, the body of bread, the fire of distillates, the fat of cheese and feel that the world is created for you and you are created for the world.

This is why we organised this meeting for you.

Budapest = Buda + Pest (Eastside + Westside)

The capital city of Hungary, Budapest, was created out of the unification of the separate historic towns of Buda, Pest and Óbuda in 1873. Whilst the area had been inhabited from early times, it was from this date that the city’s expansion into a world capital really began. Budapest is bisected by the River Danube, with the city as much a natural geographical centre as it is the country’s transport hub. Covering an area of two hundred square miles and divided into 23 administrative districts, it is home today to a population of 1.8 million people.

Flowing north to south through the centre of the city is the mighty River Danube. Buda and Óbuda, comprising roughly a third of the total, are situated mainly in the hills to the west, with commercial Pest on the plains to the east. There are three islands – Óbuda Island, Margaret Island and Csepel Island – and nine bridges, two of which carry railway lines.

History:
The Eravisci, a tribe of highly cultured Celts, had already settled at Gellért Hill in the third and fourth centuries B.C. They worked with iron, decorated their earthenware pots and even minted their own coins. Later, the Romans built a settlement at today’s Óbuda. They called it Aquincum and it was an important station along the limes which ran alongside the River Danube.During the reign of King Béla IV. When Hungary was invaded and devastated by the Mongols (1241-1242), King Béla ordered new castles and fortresses to be built all around the country.

Buda became the royal seat around the turn of the fifteenth century under the rule of Sigismund of Luxembourg, and the Royal Palace grew ever larger until its zenith was reached under King Matthias (ruled 1458-1490). Following the dire Hungarian defeat at the Battle of Mohács (1526) the Turks sacked and burned Buda.

Pest and Óbuda, too, suffered dreadfully as a result of the century-and-a-half of Turkish rule that followed. The Turks did, however, build baths fed by the hot springs. Their cupolas appear on contemporary engravings, and of course some of them are still extant today – the most visible legacy of that period.

just arrived in Budapest, Hungary

Safe and Sound in Budapest. Arrived at midnight, but the City is calm and quite, unlike CNN exaggerated news regarding [ 'Lies' tape sparks Budapest riot ]. We plan to visit Kalocsa town this Saturday, after experiencing Budapest, the Paris of the East.