Kalocsa is famous for their paprika. Every September they have a festival called "Paprika Napok" (Paprika Days). Although its name might suggest it lasts more than a day, it is just one long day full of events including: a huge cooking competition, parade, music concerts, dance performances, carnival rides and fireworks. This year it was unseasonably cold and cloudy, but thankfully the raindrops were few and only in the morning.
Notice the yin-yang is made of two paprikas!
The day began with a run for school children. I am still fuzzy on the details, but I think the local schools were somehow rewarded for the number of students and teachers that signed up. Margo, a fellow teacher at my school, offered to pick Jon and I up and bring us to the run. Until we were handed numbers I did not realize we would actually be IN the run. I wasn't more than a few kilometers, and we did not run very fast. This was in part because we were not wearing running shoes or appropriate running attire, but also because we were jogging alongside third and fourth graders. The whole experience was a bit odd, but it was nice to get a little fresh air and exercise first thing on Saturday morning.
At the run with Margo, the head English teacher at my school
Following the run, Margo offered to show us the main festival area and give us a little tour before the afternoon crowds arrived. Rows and rows of tents were set up, each decorated to reflect the group or organization whose stand it was. The main event of the festival was the cooking competition. Each group makes their own special stew or goulash and naturally the key ingredient is paprika.
I am not sure exactly what a "Knight of Paprika" does. I think perhaps they judge the cooking competition. There was also a parade, so they might have just been checking out the tents before the show. Whatever their purpose, they certainly added a degree of majesty to the whole experience.
The "Paprika Knights"
In addition to the cooking tents, many people and business set up tents with samples of their products they had for sale. Quality cheese is not something you can pick up at any grocery store around here, so I jumped at the chance to get a nice chunk of good cheese. Somehow my request for a small piece of cheese resulted in over a kilo of very expensive (but delicious) cheese. Margo was kind enough to pay for a third, so we cut her off a hefty slice when we got back to my apartment. It's nearly a month later and I still have about half of the 2/3 of the piece I bought that day!
Nearly $40 worth of cheese... oops!
A group of fellow CETP teachers arrived that afternoon and we all headed back to the fest. To eat at the festival, you had to first buy a food ticket, which came with a bowl and an optional stack of bread. That ticket was good for one fill of the bowl at whichever cauldron caught your eye. I had packed an apple in my purse figuring everything would have meat in it. Much to my amazement, there was ONE tent that had vegetable soup! The soup was not part of the competition, so they wouldn't take my ticket and I had to pay a little more, but I was happy to also dig into a hot meal on that chilly day.
Eliza trying out a fish soup
With Carla and Megan, toasting to Paprika fest
Eliza and Hanna: The Traditional Kalocsa Couple
Our evening ended at my favorite restaurant in town: Vincenzo's. He is not only a great cook, but so hospitable that you forget you are in a restaurant. To foreigners he speaks a special combination of Hungarian, German and English. His seamless transitions are quite confusing even when you know the words in each language, but his food speaks for itself. We stayed long past closing time talking and listening to his jazz records and classical CD's. By the end of the evening we had learned a few new Hungarian words and Vincenzo learned how to high five. It was a great way to end an incredible day.
Lisa, Jon, and Eliza at Vincenzo's
Eliza teaches Vincenzo how to high five and fist pound
