Seemingly overlooked during the tense election weekend, the Festival of Hungarian Gastronomy quietly took place in Budapest's City Park last Saturday and Sunday, attracting a sparse crowd of hungry Magyars to sample good, straightforward Hungarian food. Little publicity preceded the event during the previous week of kamikaze politicking, and festival attendees were, for the most part, accidental. Dog walkers, families, Frisbee teams, and local winos were, however, delighted to find their favorite secluded field occupied by tents and sheds full of fish soup, roast pig, and top-shelf pálinka (fruit brandy). Biking through the park, we felt like we had arrived at a fabulously catered wedding just moments after the bride and groom had a fight and left - leaving only us and the food. Oops! Dig in!

This wasn't your usual Hungarian festival food - dry pretzels, boiled corn, dry kolbász, regrettable gulyás. This was the quality stuff, some of the best Magyar kaja available in one single place since Náncsi Néni was in small pants. This was real Magyar chowhound territory, pork, pork, and more pork, not namby-pamby reform (health-food) cuisine.

There was not so much as a drizzle of olive oil to be savored amidst the divine smell of onions sizzling furiously in lard. Restaurant tents shoveled out trad faves such as halászlé (fish soup, above top) sült csulök (pig knuckles, above bottom) and székely gulyás (sour cabbage pork stew).

Bakers of the Transylvanian sweet bread kürtos kalács (above) vied against each other while slightly less authentic folky types with a mud oven presented a Magyar take on the pizza concept (below): our sour cream, onion, bacon, kolbász, and garlic flat bread beats your pizza romano anyday!

If you were lucky enough to find the festival, then the wine tents and purveyors of pálinka were ecstatic to find you. With so few attendees, there were ample samples, and two-fers were the order of the day. Order one, and try this one as well! And hey, mind if I join you?