Több Paprikát, Kérek Szépen!*

We had our first Hungarian (sister) come into membership at church today. Hungary is a country I know little about although I have been there once.

Here are some top tips, sent in by Kinga, on how you can spot a Hungarian.

You know you are a true Hungarian:

• When you use sour cream more than ketchup.
• When feeding your guests is your main priority even if they claim they’re not hungry, in which case you get slightly offended/upset because they don’t want your hospitality.

• When Paprika on the table is just as important as salt & pepper.
• When you tell to somebody that you are Hungarian and they ask “Are you hungry?” Then you congratulate them on being the millionth person to say that to you.
• When you know that the “goulash” you see in many restaurants has little/nothing to do with the “gulyás leves” we really eat.
• When meeting another Hungarian in a foreign country is a truly amazing experience.
• When a pancake is extremely flat in your country and you roll it up instead of folding it.
• When do you not speak with your mouth full.
• When you go into a Chinese restaurant and order your Sechuan chicken with French fries, cucumber salad and a few slice of bread as well.
• When you NEVER leave home with wet hair because you can get a cold and you ALWAYS take your hair dryer with you when going abroad and are astonished when people do not have one in their own homes!
• When your language has two words for love.
• When you have a "name day" and no foreigner understands what that day is good for.
• When you use fruit to make soup.
• When you smuggle food and drink into the cinema to save money.
• When you have guests and you make at least 2 kinds of soup, 4 different main courses and at least 2 kinds of cake even though you know it’s way too much.
• When you think it’s perfectly reasonable to take small kids for a walk when it's -1 outside just so they get some fresh air.
• When you have to stand out in the rain to grow tall.
• When you eat bread with just about everything, even potatoes.
• When your childhood fairytales didn’t end as “they lived happily ever after” but “they lived happily until death”.
• When you have the largest collection of plastic bags in the world but will still take loads from Tesco because they are free.
• When you go to a restaurant and put your bread from the table into your bag so you can eat it at home.
• When you keep an old black and white TV and other useless objects because maybe one day you'll find a use for them.
• When your friends or family think you are crazy and yell at you because you don’t wear “papucs” (slippers) around the house all the time to prevent yourself from catching a cold.
• When you refuse more food and you automatically have an eating disorder.
• When what you are eating for dinner tonight actually started out as a “pörkölt” three days ago, then morphed into a “rizses hús” and tonight is a“székely káposzta”.

I don't know what those last three dishes are. Kinga, if you are reading this can you tell us?

*More paprika, please!