If Budapest is looking a little de-populated today, it's not just because people are clearing out to avoid the chaos of the 1956 commemorations. It's because, once again, the "Kolbászfesztivál" is already underway in the sausage capital of Békéscsaba. The tenth annual sausage-making extravaganza began yesterday at 10:00 with a pigkilling show, and the competitions will close on Sunday at 18:00 with the announcement of the winners of the "dry sausage and pickles & relishes competition."

The traditional "national" kolbász-making contest will be held tomorrow, to which more than 100 teams have signed up. On Sunday, families can attend children's programs. The exhibitions and the wine and restaurant tents will remain open until 22:00 on Monday.

The thick, meaty csabai kolbász is part of everyday life in Békéscsaba, and across Hungary sausage-lovers relish this unique "Hungarikum." Local artists find inspiration in the tasty tubes of pork, and every festival features at least a few paintings or other works of art related to kolbász making. Meanwhile, the late Lutheran Chaplain Gyula Dedibszky even wrote a book about csabai kolbász, in which he laid down the proper traditional methods of pig slaughtering and sausage-making.

The first kolbászfesztivál was held in 1997 in Békéscsaba and has become a well-known national gastronomy event. More than 1,000 people participate every year in the fresh kolbász making contest, which is the festival's highpoint, and which often features Hungarian politicians demonstrating firsthand that, despite the old adage, making sausages is indeed no more ugly than making laws. You can read the schedule of programs in English here.