Since we’re again mixing food and politics, it seems like a good time to mention the curious case of the nationalist Koppány Nemzeti Bolt chain of food stores, which is controlled by specialty meat processor Koppány Hús Hungaricum Kft, and which recently opened its seventh outlet in Budaörs. As for why I would call it “nationalist,” here are two indications. One, it is named for a tenth-century nobleman who fought against the Christianization of Hungary, and tends to be a revered figure for those who take their Hungaro-patriotism really seriously. Second, this story quotes Koppány Hús owner Zoltán Megyesi as saying the stores are aimed not so much at making a profit as promoting “exclusively high quality Hungarian products, supplied by Hungarian producers to Hungarian consumers.”
While all this might cause some non-Hungarians to shy away or scoff, for me it was like a red flag to a bull, a mounted head of which meets you when you walk into the District V outlet, which, ironically enough, is on “Serb street.”
As you might expect, the focus is on meat, especially Hungary’s two most celebrated indigenous breeds of livestock: Szürkemarha and Mangalica. According to the company’s website, it has the country’s largest privately-owned Hungarian Grey Cattle herd – over 1,000 head – which ranges on 5,000 hectares in the Cserehát hills near Tokaj. Special attention is said to be paid to the keeping of the animals, and they are not given any industrial fodder.
In addition to the above open fridge containing all sorts of interesting preserved meats – I picked up a nice length of dry spicy buffalo (bivaly) sausage – there was also a limited selection of these specialty beef and pork cuts. There was also a freezer with a good variety of frozen lamb parts at pretty favorable prices.
What I didn’t find was any hostility. The shopkeeper on duty at the time seemed happy just to have a customer – I was the only one in there, and she said business wasn’t great – and more than game to have a friendly gab with a foreigner. She laughed warmly when I gently needled her over the presence of certain items (black pepper) obviously brought in from far outside the Carpathian basin – the store claims to only sell products transported no more than 120 kilometers – and seemed genuinely touched when I told her how to cook lamb, which she had confessed to never having eaten in her life. Just goes to show you that no matter what, good food has a way of bringing people from different cultures together, even if the intent is exactly the opposite.
