Is Hungarian cuisine and culinary culture in crisis? According to some members of the country's culinary elite, the answer is yes. Following is a (mostly) unabridged translation of an "open letter" signed by almost 100 leading members of the Hungarian culinary community that was recently circulated and published in several online and print journals. (Here is where we got the version that we have translated.) At some point we'll be publishing a post with our own thoughts on the issues raised in this "Culinary Charter." Until then, take a few minutes to read it, and, if you feel so inclined, to comment on it yourself in a thread we've created on the topic over in the Caboodle forums. - The Editors

We, the undersigned, believe that our dining culture is nearing its last legs in many ways. Our aim is to reverse those negative processes that can still be reversed and to initiate new, positive processes.

We consider Hungarian winemakers to represent an example worth following. With care and hard work, they have made enormous strides. Their cellars now stock world-class wines. However, we lack the gastronomical skills in the wine regions to do the high quality of wine justice. This is lamented not only by Hungarian food lovers, but also by the foreign press.

Our food and hospitality used to be what attracted foreigners to our country. This is no longer the case. We would like to see those days return, and believe the following are necessary for this to happen:

Dining culture is one of the most important measures of a country's cultural advancement.

It reflects in interaction with agriculture, health care, environmental protection, a long list of professions, public taste and the country's image. It is about the lives we live. It should be a given that a country's citizens and state lend this issue the weight it deserves.

As the state had an active role in destroying dining culture during the last half century, it has a special responsibility to not further hinder but help rebuilding it. Governments should not consider our dining culture to be a matter of Guninnes records on the state level or a tool for cheap creation of clients.

Gastronomy cannot exist without high-quality ingredients.

A process began in the fifties that reduced gastronomy to the level of mass nutrition. Quantity became the number one priority. A large number of food types that are less cost-effective for mass production, such as vegetables, fruits, domestic and wild animals, disappeared from our dinner tables.

Hungary does not exploit its geographical advantages. We produce only a fraction of what the climate and soil will allow - and even what is produced is not of good quality. "More people are getting isolated from the earth, our knowledge about valuable food is becoming poorer, we are more defenseless against the producers of low quality food and the price wars of traders," said three Michelin star Catalan cook Santi Santamaria in a country where the situation is uncomparably better. Promoting quality is not in the interests of product managers. For this reason, it is up to the country as a whole to actively participate in encouraging a variety of basic ingredients. Lawmakers should support strict quality and origin control systems to replace production of loosely defined "hungaricums" of uncertain quality - based on existing systems in the European Union and other foreign countries.

There is an urgent need to restore traditions of cooking education and related professions.

Professional cooks should have a key role in tending the dining culture, protecting and popularizing good ingredients and improving public taste. For this purpose, qualified, open and strictly speaking professional personnel are needed.

Training should transfer universal knowledge accumulated during the history of the profession while passing on the best local traditions to youngsters, who in turn become capable of further refining these traditions.

This is not the case in Hungary. An influential group took the profession hostage decades ago and still keeps it imprisoned. It has all but forbidden 20th century culinary disciplines while promoting widely-followed bad eating habits and mediocrity in the name of tradition.

While the success propaganda in the press is continuous, the profession is getting swept further away from the world standard. They are not given proper textbooks or books on the profession. Based on the specified professional and test requirements, even a poor textbook could not be written; the textbook currently used is pathetic.

As there are no books published bout the profession, educators themselves cannot get information about the fast developments in the profession around the world. Master education is a formality without content, and we are full of empty titles in the patron bodies and knight orders. The situation is similar in education of bakers, butchers, confectioners and cheese makers.

The poor health of the population and deteriorating public taste make it necessary to better educate even kindergarten children about the importance of healthy eating.

The public should eat much more good-tasting vegetables and fruits and cut down on meats, natural fats, good carbohydrates and valuable proteins - while those they do eat should be of higher quality. Children should learn how to tell natural from artificial flavors, and real food from "food substitutes." Considering the current precarious financial situation of the majority of the population, it is particularly important to radically improve the quality of basic foodstuffs - such as bread, butter, milk, potatoes, onions and carrots.

As by our times, the knowledge of quality has mostly disappered, no demanding audience exists. And without knowing and demanding audience, there are no culinary arts and no healthy eating either.

In the current climate, we cannot expect the state to turn its attention to these urgent tasks immediately. For now, gastronomy has no real owner on the state level.

The question of basic ingredients is the responsibility of the ministry of agriculture, hospitality "belongs" to the ministry of economy, and tourism to the ministry of regional development. Also involved are the ministries of education and social affairs, the National Institute of Vocational and Adult Education and the Commission for Vocational Textbooks and Educational Tools. Then there is the Agrármarketing Centrum, the Hungarian Tourist Board, the Food Safety Authority, the Chamber of Commerce and a variety of product commissions. None of these act in the interests of gastronomy.

Our aim is to create an independent Institute of Gastronomy as soon as possible that would understand and deal with all related issues, operate a flagship school, restaurant and small farm, offer a professional library and film archive, organize conferences and further education courses and maintain contact with producers, researchers and breeders. A similar institute is opening near Madrid - supported by the state, the local government, the church, private foundations and the European Union.

We the undersigned would like to operate as lobbyists for gastronomy, and propose civil self-organization to achieve our goals. In other countries, Michelin-star chefs, private foundations and non-profit organizations also perform a considerable amount of work in this area. For instance, French chef Paul Bocuse brought the cardoon back to dinner tables and made the Bresse poultry world-famous. Two-star Italian chef Fulvio Pierangelini has saved a breed of pig called cinta senese. The tradition of the balsamic vinegar of Modena was nearly forgotten a few decades ago, and the pigs of Iberico were nearly driven to extinction. The small restaurants and bouchons of Lyon started serving the needs of undemanding mass tourism. But there were some people who worked together to carry out a successful rescue mission.

Several hundred permanent cooking groups work in the Basque country and regularly cook and promote good quality ingredients and products. In part thanks to this, San Sebastian is one of the centers of world gastronomy. This small Basque town is the only one in the world with three restaurants boasting three Michelin stars. It also has hundreds of excellent tapas bars and small restaurants.

We, the undersigned, ask the citizens of Hungary to follow these examples. One of our well-known politicians has recently adopted a rhinoceros. Our nutrition culture is also a rhinoceros that needs to be saved. Let's adopt it!

László Alkonyi, Borbarát, editor-in-chief
Péter Andrusch, Alabárdos, owner
György Antall, lawyer
József Auguszt, confectioner
Sarolta Bárdos, winemaker, Béres wineyards and cellars*
Stephanie Berecz, winemaker, Tokaj Kikelet Cellar*
László Béládi, historian
Attila Bicsár, Alabárdos, head chef
Benedek Binder, Lou Lou, head chef
Lajos Bwriter, Bock Bisztró, owner-head chef
Dóra Bittera, MGE (Hungarian Gastronomy Association) founding member
Csaba Bokor
Ágnes Bordács, lawyer, MGE founding member
István Bordács, lawyer, MGE founding member
Judit Bodó, winemaker
László Bussay, winemaker
Balázs Csapody, Kistücsök, owner
János Cseh, Congress Center, head chef
János Csillag, journalist
Katalin Csiszár, Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé
Ágnes Csoma, lawyer, MGE founding member
Csaba Csongrádi, sommelier
Miklós Dudás, MGE founding member
Zoltán Demeter, winemaker
Péter Esterházy, writer
Miklós Fári, university professor
Béla Fehér, writer
Antonio Fekete, chef
István Gedai, retired director of the Hungarian National Museum
Attila Gere, winemaker
Vincze Gergely, winemaker*
Gyula Gullner, master chef
János Gundel
Károly Gundel
Gyula Harangi, head chef, Kempinski of Lisbon
György Haris, businessman
Csaba Harmath, Bredvik Catering, company leader
Zoltán Heimann, winemaker
Attila Homonna, winemaker*
József Ráspi Horváth, restaurant owner
László Jahni, Kistücsök, head chef
István Jásdi, winemaker
Kálmán Kalla, head chef, Sümegprága
László Kalocsai, Dereszla Cellars, property manager
András Karácsony, philosopher, MGE founding member
László Kehidai, secondary school teacher
József Kling, gastronomy writer
Antal Kovács, Zwack Unicum, wine expert
Zsolt Kovács, economist
Eszter Kovács, economist
Vilmos Kreil, House of Balatom Wines, owner
András Lánczi, philosopher
Gábor Losits, Coffe-Inn, café owner
Bárlint Losonci, winemaker
István Lovas, journalist
Domokos Máthé, cacao.hu
Viktor Merényi, Boscolo, sous chef
László Mészáros, Disznókő Cellars, property manager
László Mihályi, Sofitel, head confectioner
Gábor Mogyorósi, Csalogány 26, sous chef
Gábor Molnár, Klassz, head chef
Márk Molnár, Zuma/London, sous chef
Tamás B. Molnár, MGE founding member
Péter Molnár, winemaker, Patricius wine house*
Gergely Orbán, caterer-economist
Péter Palotás, Hungaroshrimps, owner
Endre Papp, program host*
Balázs Pethő, Csalogány 26, head chef
Sándor Pető, Sofitel, executive sous chef
László Pollok, Csalogány 26, owner
Robert Prokopp*
László Roisz, MGE founding member
Ferenc Roznik, wine writer
Károly Rudits, Lou Lou, owner
Victor Segal, Segal, head chef
Tamás Soós, Susogó of Pécs, owner
Judit Stahl, journalist
Péter Suga, head chef
Lajos Szabó, Széchenyi Castle Hotel, head chef
József Szentesi, winemaker, Maligán restaurant
István Szepsy, winemaker
Béla Szilágyi, cook
Dénes Szilágyi, MGE founding member
Attila Tálos, Bortársaság*
Gyula Sz. Tóth, teacher
Lajos Takács, head chef
Péter Tóth, lawyer
Péter Uj, editor-in-chief, Index.hu
Ferenc Újvári, winemaker, Hold-völgy Kft.*
Péter Vajda, film director
Péter Várvízi, practive leader, KJF
Péter Vida, winemaker
Frigyes Vomberg, food designer cook
Marta Wille-Baumkauff, Pendits Cellars
Gábor Zsolnay, master chef, educator

*Individuals who signed the Charter after its original publication