Urgh. They say you should never enquire too closely
into how a sausage is made.
The same is true for salami, judging from this
caption at the Pick Salami and Paprika Museum in Szeged, Hungary.
I was fearful of this institution being packed with
lots of boring industrial information presented via small, dusty captions.
However, the meat-flavoured museum in this attractive city on the Tisza River in the nation’s southeast turns out to be good fun.
However, the meat-flavoured museum in this attractive city on the Tisza River in the nation’s southeast turns out to be good fun.
In addition to the occasional “Too much information”
text on how salami is created, there are interesting, simply presented displays
involving industrial equipment and overall-wearing dummies.
The dummies lack facial
features but come complete with enormous moustaches, cloth caps, and in one
case, a brush that’s applied to the “noble mould” that encases the salami as it
matures (best not too ask too much here either).
What’s interesting in the story of Pick Salami, named
after the company’s 19th century founder Mark Pick, is how much it parallels the
political and industrial history of Hungary.
As I make my way past dummies extruding meat into
sausage-like casings, or hauling salamis dangling from sticks hung over their
shoulders, I learn how the meat was initially prized for its ability to be
transported without refrigeration, and how the factory’s export markets were in
flux after World War I led to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The upstairs section of the museum is devoted to
paprika, the quintessential Hungarian ingredient. It may lack the humorous
potential of salami, but paprika is the essential element that marks out
Hungary’s unique cuisine from that of the nations which surround it.
Frankly, it’s
a mystery as to why there aren’t more Hungarian restaurants snuggled between
all the Italian and Chinese eateries around the world. One of the most
distinctive European cuisines, Hungarian food is memorably denoted by spicy
paprika and flavoursome sauces, and accompanied by fine local wine.
Better
still, eating well while travelling through the nation of the Magyars (as
Hungarians call themselves) is laughably inexpensive. A fine tureen of goulash soup served suspended
above a flame will only set you back a few dollars, as will most main dishes
and bottles of locally produced wine.
Szeged’s Salami Museum is clearly irresistible; you
even get presented with some salami on bread at the end of the tour. And a free
prepaid postcard so you can tell your friends all about Szeged’s salami
fixation. Tasty.
This post was sponsored by Flight Centre NZ. Check out its site for cheap flights.
