Articles by Initial Letters
Jókai Mór és a magyar ételörökség – 5.
Káposzta, harmatkása, boszorkánypogácsa, valamint Jókai utolsó évei
Hungarian Food Tradition and Jókai Mór. Jókai, 1825–1904,has been hailed as ‘the great Hungarian story teller’. This year marks 200 years since his birth. This column has focused on the important role food and eating had in Jókai’s life. “Perhaps every single one of his works mentions a meal, or a certain dish….stuffed cabbage appears in Jókai’s works 37 times”. The cabbage barrel (for making sauerkraut) is described. A meat stew called ‘tokány’ is mentioned nineteen times in his works. A cabbage soup made for those with hangovers is mentioned in sixteen of his works. A variety of dishes made with grains are repeatedly mentioned in his stories. “Harmatkása” (glyceria or manna grass) and its preparation is discussed here. Dishes made with noodles and other pastries are mentioned throughout Jókai’s works, including ‘witch’s butter biscuits’. The series ends with gossip that surrounded the final years of Jókai’s life and his unpopular 1899 marriage at the age of 74 to the 20 year old actress Grósz Bella (Nagy Bella). It was said that the young wife didn’t feed Jókai very well (hard to know where the truth is). The series finishes with a poem by Jókai from 1901 entitled “A konyha” (the kitchen) listing his all-time favorite dishes. By ethnographer Juhász Katalin.