TASTING OF HUNGARIAN PRODUCTS

WAITROSE
Trumpington Street CAMBRIDGE
FRIDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2007
10:00 am to 6.00 pm
TASTING OF HUNGARIAN PRODUCTS
Free entrance

FOOD GUIDES
In the 1950s a famous series of food guides were written and published by Egon Ronay. He was born 1916 in Budapest.
After his wealthy father lost his substantial estate to the Russians after World War II he emigrated to England alone in 1946. His father's contacts arranged for him to manage a restaurant in Piccadilly. Later he ran a 39 seat restaurant near Harrods called the Marquee, putting classic french dishes on the menu - somewhat unusual for post-War London. He began to write food columns for the Daily Telegraph.
In 1957, he completed the first edition of the Egon Ronay Guide to British eateries It became a mark of distinction to be mentioned. Many restaurants displayed proudly the blue rondeles for each listed year.

CUISINE OF HUNGARY
Hungarian or Magyar Cuisine is the cuisine characteristic to Hungary and the Magyars. Hungarian food is often spicy. It frequently uses paprika, black pepper and onions. Potatoes are also commonly used in many dishes.
Hungarians are passionate about their soups, desserts and stuffed pancakes, with fierce rivalries between regional variations of the same dish, e. g. the fish soups cooked differently on the banks of Hungary's two main rivers; the Danube (Duna) and the Tisza. Hungarian cuisine is influenced both by the history of the Magyar people and by the environment found in the Carpathian basin when the Magyars settled in the late 800's. The importance of livestock is apparent in the prominence of meat in Hungarian food.
The nomadic lifetsyle of the Magyars may be reflected in the many dishes cooked over fire, from goulash in a bogracs (or cauldron) to pogasca pastries. In the 15th century, King Matthias Corvinus and his Neopolitan wife Beatrice were influenced by Renaissance culture and helped introduce ingredients like garlic and onions to Hungarian cuisine. Elements of Turkish cuisine were adopted by Hungarians during the Ottoman era, mainly in the form of vegetable dishes, but the influence is not as pronounced as in the Balkans.
Cakes and sweets in Hungary show a strong German/Austrian influence. Two remarkable elements of Hungarian cuisine that are hardly noticed by locals, but usually conjure up much enthusiasm amongst foreigners are different forms of fozelek as well as cold fruit soups. It was an Italian zinc-founder by the name of Rolando' Peter who first made salami in Szeged in 1841. Mark Pick opened a shop in 1869, his son made the Pick salami famous with the name winter salami .

WAITROSE
Was founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor, with Taylor leaving in 1906. They opened their first shop ( Waite, Rose and Taylor ) at 263, Acton Hill, West London.
In 1908, the name Waitrose was adopted as the company was incorporated. The company (at the time with 10 shops) was taken over by The John Lewis Partnership in 1937, with the then 160 employees becoming Partners. The chain's first supermarket opened in Streatham, London in 1955 - since then the Waitrose chain has grown to include 186 super- markets. In the 1980's it was the first major chain to begin selling organic food. Waitrose emphasises quality food and customer service.
It currently has 4% of the food market and additionally a 16% of the organic food and 10% of the wet fish markets.
The company has a Royal Warrant to supply groceries, wine and spirits to the Queen.
Waitrose Foundation 2005, provides funds for education, worker facilities and health services for fruit growers in South Africa. It was the first supermarket in Britain to sell loose fairtrade bananas and 90% of the chain's roses are Fairtrade.

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