Beans in Budapest and Black Rice in Barcelona

Hello again everyone! Many apologies for not having written about the seasonal produce in Italy for awhile! It has been a busy month! And this entry, I'm not even writing about Italy, but where I've been traveling this fall. Don't worry, I still have some time to write about what's at the market here in Turin before I go home for the holidays...

Budapest

First on our itinerary: Budapest. I ate a lot of Hungarian food, in particular, a lot of goulash. It was amazing, very heavy stuff, but amazing. At the end of the trip, one of my work colleagues coined a lovely new phrase, she was "goulashata"! In Italian, -ato/a is a common way to end an adjective. Her new linguistic invention expresses the following: "I am so full of goulash, I'm getting acne from all this heavy food, I'm ready to go back to pizza and pasta in Italy." 

A big thank you to my friends and colleagues who took all these pictures  for me in Budapest. Long story short, I forgot my camera :)

My favorite dish in Budapest, however, was not the goulash, but an amazing, cheap bean soup we had the first night in a cozy little underground pub called Green's.

This is part of the description on the webpage where I found the recipe upon returning home "You may be stunned by how meat-heavy and fat-laden it is. Well, welcome to the wonderful world of Hungarian cuisine." I thought I had ordered a vegetarian dish... to my delight, especially to the delight of my taste buds, this is an incredibly tasty bean soup thanks to all the meat! To try and reproduce my Budapest bean adventure, check out this recipe - it's well written with a bit anecdote. 

My brief research on Hungarian beans reveals that peas and soybeans are the most import legumes produced in the country, although I don’t think they were featured in my soup. The soybeans are used for animal feed. There is an increasing movement to produce soybeans locally because of the distaste for genetically modified foreign imports and because organic farming is on the rise. Over the years, however, domestic production of total legumes has gradually decreased both for human and animal consumption. Even with government subsidies, imports are required each year to meet demand. Perhaps this is because the northern regions of the country are too dry to produce what’s needed – most soybean production in Hungary occurs in the south. Grain legumes are full of proteins and amino acids, that’s why they’re so important as animal feed and as a staple food for human sustenance.[i]

If you search around on this webpage, you can find out why producing “grain legumes” (i.e. beans, lentils, lupins, peas, and peanuts) is not bad for the environment, mainly because of their lower fossil energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Another big item produced in Hungary is its paprika. You can find it everywhere, and it's a popular item for the tourists to take home (see the jar I brought home). 

I looked up the scientific name of this Hungarian paprika because I wanted to know if it was the same as certain Italian or Latin American peppers. The paprika I bought and saw dangling around everywhere in Budapest is of the species Capsicum annum.[ii] This genus species combination covers a wide range of varieties: Aleppo, Anaheim (also called California), Ancho (called poblano when fresh), Bell pepper, Cascabel, Cayenne, Chilaca (called pasilla when dried), Chiltepin, Cubanelle, De árbol, Dundicut, Fresno, Guajillo, Hungarian wax, Italian sweet pepper, Jalapeño (called chipotle when smoked), Japanese, Mirasol, Macho chili, Mulato pepper, Niora, New Mexico (known more widely as 'Anaheim'), Pasilla (called chilaca when fresh), Pepperoncini, Piquín, Pimento (also called cherry pepper), Poblano (called ancho when dried), Puya, Sanaam, Serrano, Sport, Super Chili, and Tien Tsin![iii] These prolific peppers are originally from Mexico, but found their way to Hungary in the 16^th century with the Turks. Hungary is know to produce high quality stuff, in a range of colors from bright red to terra cotta brown. Its spicy property is also used as a pain killer in some parts of the world. It’s also a source of vitamin C. Hungarians first used the plant to fire up food served to invaders before it became widely used and loved! The sunniest, southern-most parts of Hungary are the main producing regions.[iv] To learn much more about Hungarian paprika, and to find recipes, click here. Beware, do not stock this up in your cupboards for too long, it’s best fresh.

For another good Hungarian recipe website check out Chew Hungary. Remember to try and play with the ingredients to include produce and meat products from your local area!

Barcelona

Next stop: Barcelona! I was barely in the city long enough to get to a decent restaurant, but one night, instead of buying pastries and orange juice in the supermarket by my hostel, I ventured down to the old town area and had some banging seafood. 

First, I enjoyed some prawns grilled in garlic and presented with a sinful butter sauce outside the Saint Mary of the Sea Cathedral. (This was a mandatory stop for me - last year, I read the book Catedral del Mar, or "Cathedral of the Sea" by Ildefonso Falcone. This novel talks about the construction of this church in historic romance perfection, set in 14th century Spain.) Sorry, no pictures, I ate them up too fast! 

Not full yet, and wanting to salute the ocean before heading back to sleep, I went down to the old port of the city. I briefly inhaled in the scent of the Mediterranean, and went in search of a not too expensive seafood restaurant. It's a bit touristy and cliche, but I didn't have the funds or time to search out anything better this time around, I ordered paella. I didn't go for the classic, saffron infused variety, however, I chose the rice sauteed in cuttlefish ink - that's why it's black.

In 1993, Spain produced 102,000 metric tons of squid and cuttlefish and imported another 74,355 metric tons. In 2004, the country produced a mere 21,000 metric tons and imported instead 142,000 metric tons.[v]  This could be because Morocco wanted a better deal, as Spanish ships made a large percentage of their catches in Moroccan water in the early 90s.[vi] The country was an overall net exporter of cuttlefish and squid until it joined the EU 1986, so perhaps it’s just cheaper to import from non-EU Member States. It gets most of its cuttlefish from the US, with smaller amounts coming from India, Argentina, and Morocco. I wonder, does the lower cost of foreign cuttlefish also mean catching it in these other countries equals lower impact on the environment? Or do we sacrifice bad greenhouse gas emissions for the transport of cheap, high quality products from elsewhere? How do we solve such problems while still promoting free and global trade? 

So many things to research! Until next time...

BACI

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[i] http://www.grainlegumes.com/aep/special_reports/grain_legumes_in_central_and_eastern_europe/grain_legumes_in_hungary_today

[ii] http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/hungarian-paprika.html

[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum_annuum

[iv] http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/hungarian-paprika.html

[v] http://indexmundi.com/en/commodities/agricultural/squid-cuttlefish/

[vi] http://aquanic.org/publicat/govagen/fas/sp5039.htm