While narancs (“NAR-ANCH”) is now a staple fruit in Hungary, and appears in some modern adaptations of traditional dishes, it is not a customary element in Hungarian cuisines.

Because Hungary lies just outside of the Mediterranean belt in which oranges are grown, Hungarians have often been tempted to grow narancs, and a failed, Communist-era attempt to cultivate oranges has led to the phrase Magyar narancs (“Hungarian orange”) becoming a metaphor for overreaching, and the title of a popular weekly satirical magazine.