
How Goulash Became the National Symbol of Hungary
Once a lowly dish for herdsmen and peasants, goulash rose to fame thanks to the Habsburg Empire and Hungarian immigration abroad. A recipe follows the end of this article.

No Hungarian food is more well-known than the goulash. What pizza is to Italy and a burger to America, the goulash is to Hungary. This paprika-infused beef stew has even transcended the boundaries of gastronomy: “Goulash Communism” has come to refer to Hungary’s political system within the Eastern Bloc. One may wonder: How did the goulash become so famous?
Apart from wine, Hungary’s main export was cattle between the 16th and 18th centuries; every year, German and northern Italian cities bought more than 100,000 live Hungarian Grey cattle (szürkemarha) for their meat. These hardy animals were raised on the Alföld, large swaths of uninhabited flatland in eastern Hungary, where they spent the whole year out in the pasture grazing. Away from all signs of civilization, the diet of the herdsmen who tended to the animals — the gulyás — consisted, naturally, of beef.
The gulyás would sprinkle szalonna (pork fat) and onions into large cast-iron kettles called bogrács and roast the morsels of beef over fire. Slices of crusty bread helped mop up the juices. It was simple, hearty, rustic fare. They dried leftovers in the sun and nibbled on over the next few days. Over time, peasants from the nearby Alföld villages adopted the dish, calling it “goulash meat” or “pörkölt,” which means roasted. The choice of meat depended on local conditions: some made it with poultry, others with pork or mutton.

A new spice appeared in Hungary in the 18th century that soon became the defining feature of goulash: the paprika. Christopher Columbus brought the chili peppers — locally known as paprika — to Europe from the Americas, but it took a while for it to spread across the continent.
Hungarian peasants became especially fond of the stuff as it was cheaper than imported black peppercorns and gave an appealing ruby color and a hint of pungency to dishes. And so the modern goulash was born, along with yet another name for it: paprikash. “Not a Sunday, if no paprikash,” an old saying from the town of Szentes shows the prominent role it came to play in people’s weekly diet. (The first Hungarian cookbook to include paprika in the goulash came out only in 1826.)
It was around the same time that political events threw this provincial dish in the limelight. When enlightened Habsburg Emperor, Joseph II, tried to more closely integrate Hungary into the Monarchy in the 1780s and curb the privileges of the nobility, they responded by championing Hungarian traditions: They paraded the goulash as an example of the distinct local culture.