Breakfast, Snacks and Takeaway Food
As a nation of early risers, Hungarians like to have a calorific breakfast ( reggeli ). Commonly, this includes cheese, eggs or salami together with bread and jam, and in rural areas is often accompanied by a shot of palinka (brandy) to "clear the palate" or "aid digestion". A whole range of places purvey snacks , notably csemege or delicatessens , which display a tempting spread of salads, open sandwiches, pickles and cold meats; in a few, you can eat on the premises. Some delis still use the system whereby customers order and pay at the cash desk ( kassza ) in return for a receipt to be exchanged at the food counter. If your Hungarian is minimal, this can throw up a few misunderstandings. For sit-down nibbles, people patronize either bisztro , which tend to offer a couple of hot dishes besides the inevitable salami rolls; snackbar , which are superior versions of the same, with leanings in the direction of being a patisserie; or bufe . These last are found in department stores and stations, and are sometimes open around the clock. The food on offer, though, is often limited to sausages - including those comprising parts of the lung or liver ( hurka ), and the greasier version filled with rice ( kolbasz ). On the streets , according to season, vendors preside over tables of kukorica (corn on the cob) or trays of gesztenye (roasted chestnuts); while fried-fish ( sult hal ) shops are common in towns near rivers or lakes. Szendvics (sandwich), hamburger and gofri (waffle) stands are mushrooming in the larger towns, while Pizza Hut and McDonald's are spreading ominously across the country. Similarly ubiquitous are Chinese fast food and Turkish kebab joints, which offer tastier, and cheaper, alternatives. Another popular munch is langos : the native, mega-size equivalent of doughnuts, often sold with a sprinkling of cheese and soured cream. If they are cooked in oil ( olaj ) instead of fat ( zsir ) then vegetarians can also partake of their delights. Fruit, too, is sold by street vendors and in markets , where you'll also find various greasy-spoon cafes forking out hurka and the like. Outdoor markets ( piac ) are colourful affairs, sometimes with the bizarre sight of rows of poultry sheltered beneath sunshades. In market halls ( vasarcsarnok ), people select their fish fresh from glass tanks, and their mushrooms from a staggering array of gomba , which are displayed alongside toxic fungi in a "mushroom parade" to enable shoppers to recognize the difference. No list of snacks is complete without mentioning bread ( kenyer ), which is so popular that "Hungarians will even eat bread with bread", as the old saying has it. White bread remains the staple of the nation, but in many supermarkets, especially in Budapest, you can usually get a range of brown ( barna ) and rye ( rozs ) breads.
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