With the Mangalica Fesztivál starting today in Budapest, we thought we’d take a look at all of the Mangalica madness happening on the other side of the pond (including some of my own). Having long been a Mangalica fan, I professed my love for this fatty pork in an article last month in Saveur magazine. I also documented my day spent in a Vienna restaurant kitchen with an American chef who will be raising and cooking Mangalicas in New Jersey.

Many other American food writers have gotten the Mangalitsa bug and sung the praise of this meat (which is very hard to find outside of a few West Coast areas) since the pigs arrived in the states a few years ago (where they are now known as "Mangalitsa"). Writers and bloggers have been raving about the Mangalica pork that the Washington State-based company Wooly Pigs sells at farmer’s markets and to a few area restaurants. It was mentioned recently in a primetime TV show on CBS, the science drama "Eleventh Hour," and it was even recommended on the trend-following newsletter/site DailyCandy. So at least in this case we here in Hungary can claim to have beaten America's trend-obsessed foodies to the punch.

While the bacon and pork love-fest is still going strong with American foodies, the love of pork is nothing new to Hungarians (and Austrians may have taken it a step further by whipping Mangalica lard like cream, pictured second from top above). Pork belly is talked about in awe among some American foodies, but Hungarians have long been loving the fattiest of cuts and adding smoked pork fat to as many of their dishes as possible. The difference is that eating pork (the fattier the better) here in Hungary is seen as something just so natural that it doesn’t merit any special praise. It’s not at all rebellious or noteworthy in Hungary to point out that you love bacon. Now, it seems, that the trend has even been taken one step further in America and lard is the new bacon. Hungarians would surely agree, as Hungarian cuisine is of the philosophy that a good hunk of streak-less, smoky szalonna is a requirement to a good diet.

So, perhaps Hungary could be the destination of choice for pork-lovers who want the real stuff? Unlike the sad state of American butchers today, butchers here are abundant, and well-stocked with any part of the pig that anyone could possibly desire, be it the head of a suckling pig, a smoked snout, or a few tails. Luckily, here in Hungary pork lovers don't pay the price of gold for the stuff. While Mangalica here is also pricier than regular pork, it is nothing like the $25 (Ft 5,800) that US pork fans are paying for the stuff.

While it’s probably too late for American Mangalica fanatics to book a ticket to Budapest to attend this year's Mangalica Fesztivál, anyone looking for some serious pork porn need only head to the Mangalica-rich Bosnyák tér market, where, if it were possible, the butchers would even sell the oink.