budaveg – vegetarian Hungary your vegetarian home in Hungary

Béla Bicsérdy is probably one of the most exciting Hungarian vegetarians, an extremely learned, multilingual raw food pioneer, author of many books, an outstanding athlete, who had 150 000 followers, and apparently cured thousands of people from fatal illnesses.

I first heard his name over 20 years ago, when I told an old lady that I was vegetarian and she asked if I was a “bicsérdist”? I was baffled and it took me many years to find out what she meant.

Bicsérdy Béla - 1898 - Fogaras, Balázsfalva

He was born in 1872 and his life was forever changed when he got syphilis as a young man. He tried many doctors and treatments but nothing helped till he went vegetarian and later frutarian.  By the outbreak of the first world war he cured himself from all illnesses, his hair and 3 of his lost teeth had grown back (testified by witnesses)!

He believed that if you follow a very moderate raw diet with regular fasts, exercise every day and spend several hours studying that you can live up to several hundred years old. He thought humanity went downhill when “Thou shalt not kill” was abused- not just eating animals but killing living food with cooking. This lead to illnesses and confusion, fear, hatred and wars. People need a “master” to lead them out of this chaos; and he recognized three masters: Jesus, Zoroaster, and himself.

The path he recommended was to respect the laws of nature and become a frutarian. With this life style we can release the self healing capacity of the human body. If you follow this raw food diet you’ll be resistant to diseases and step on the path of physical and mental development. He considered cooked or baked vegetarian food as manure, and eating meat as consuming death. He didn’t allow coffee, cigarettes and alcohol consumption either. He also emphasised the ills of overeating and told his followers to aim for a diet of few apples a day. Apart from moderation pace is also crucial: you have to chew your food till it loses the taste- this may mean many minutes!

He taught that blood is the soul and cleaning the bloodstream with fasts and healthy lifestyle was vital for wellbeing. He also said that clean thoughts could only come from clean blood.

Bicsérdy also categorized food according to their value, fruit came highest and legumes at the bottom. He was extremely well read and in his book and lectures came up with many examples from all over the world and across history to prove his point.

Fasts were a crucial part in his method. He recommended starting with an 8 day fast and gradually introducing a raw diet. He used wild beasts as examples- they refuse food when they are ill. He recommended fasting for 2-3 days each week.

Daily exercising was also part of his system, also breathing exercises, clean thinking and refraining from sex except for conception, and at least 3 hours of studying a day, languages and science.  He also promised that following his system people only need a few hours of sleep a day- which was definitely true for him as confirmed by his peers. Once he held a non stop lecture for 83 hours and only ate a few apples in between.

His system is built on philosophical foundations: the final aim of humanity is to get rid of bad qualities, and the first step is to stop eating degrading food. The aim is not bodily health but the first necessary step on the path to spiritual development.

in 1925

According to the records (and there were thousands of articles written about him in the papers) he was a really charismatic man, and his public lectures were so popular that the authorities cancelled a few to stop the crowds going mad. He was one of the 4 strongest men in the world in 1902, and broke several weight lifting records. He broke a world record  in 1922 bench pressing 188 kg when he was 50!  He gained more than 10 000 followers promoting a raw vegan diet and regular fasting, many of them reaching 100 years and some of them still alive today!

There is some fascinating data too from the 1925 statistics: the turnover of the slaughter houses decreased in some cities by 11-19% and the death rate went down too, so he had an amazing influence on the society.

He uses the 1910 census to back his theories: in Bulgaria out of 2500 000 citizens 3800 were 100 or older, but in Germany out of 67 million only 126 were 100 or older! According to him it was due to the diet of Bulgarians which was mainly vegetables and dairy and because they observed 150 days of fasting a year.

Béla Bicsérdy and his followers - 1936 - Szentendre

His followers created two vegetarian colonies, one near Szolnok 1923, where 32 families lived, mainly former clerks and schoolteachers. They followed a raw vegan diet and lived off their own produce. The other colony was formed in 1930 west of Szentendre and by 1935 it had 90 members.

Interestingly Béla Bicsérdy’s brother was the president of the Hungarian Vegetarian Society but the two brothers fundamentally disagreed on what “the right path” was. Béla Bicsérdy had a very strong “my way or the highway” attitude. After the second world war he had to leave Hungary, he fled to Germany and later to USA and there are several versions of his death- from a car accident to being shot by a devotee. The communist regime of course disapproved of him and his work and all his books were destroyed and soon this man of enormous influence was forgotten save for a few dedicated followers- some of them reached to be 100.

I am totally fascinated by his life and the ability to regrow teeth! Our dental bills are enormous! Also if you only eat a few apples a day then shopping, cooking, meal planning is all a non issue.. but I think I will start slowly just eating more raw every day…

sources- all in Hungarian

wikipedia Bicsérdi tanítása és a bicsérdizmus

BICSÉRDY BÉLA ÉS A BICSÉRDYZMUS thesis by Áprily Zoltán

http://www.egeszsegestaplalkozas.eoldal.hu/cikkek/bicserdy-1.html

images

Here is the follow up to my gardening story. When you have a tiny garden you start going vertical and use all the available space- so you need pergolas and containers.

Pots and containers are pretty common everywhere for flowers but we experimented with growing edible stuff- and hey they are pretty too! Our tomatoes did really well in the simple flower pots, we really only needed to keep them safe from the dog, but otherwise were easy plants. This year we planted some in the garden and they did amazingly well, we had yellow tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes as well, my favourites are the yellow ones, fantastic taste, really sweet!

I planted strawberries too, but they didn’t give a lot of fruit at all- we had like 20 berries from 10 plants- a plain waste of money…

James built a fantastic pergola to have some shade in the hot summer days, and also to have a place for the kid’s swings. I planted pink roses on one side and kiwis on the other at the posts, and runner beans in between. I planted normal runner beans and these special long green beans I discovered at the local market a year ago. The runner beans did really well, and I picked enough beans for 3 soups in the middle of the summer. Then just before the second harvest hundreds of shield bugs appeared on the beans, but they didn’t seem to harm them. I consulted Aron again and he said that they would suck the beans dry- and he was right, we lost the second harvest. Luckily there was a third batch right in October because we had an amazingly warm and sunny autumn. Look at these beans, I am in love with the colours!

I also planted these long green beans called “Turkish beans”. They like to run up to four meters and weren’t too happy with the mere two meters I provided them, still we had a few beans, enough to steam as a side dish.

Finally a trick I learnt from Aron; before the frost came I had to pick all our tomatoes and I was so upset about the green ones, but he advised me to put them on a tray with a few apples, put a tea towel on the top and they would ripen. And they did! They taste like store tomatoes, so not as good as the sun ripened ones, but at least they are organic.

Honestly I don’t think we saved any money on growing our own food, plants and potting mix are not cheap-but quality local veg is. However it was fun, very satisfying to pick warm sun kissed food and I think it is good to show your children, after all they learn by example.

There seem to be a massive boom in cooking classes nowadays, or perhaps just facebook make me more aware of them?

Vegan & Gluten Free Cookery Workshop The Salt’n'Pepper cooking school organizes workshops where the chef of Napfényes Étterem is teaching culinary skills. Unfortunately info is only in Hungarian on their website, but email them for info if you are interested.
saltnpepper@t-online.hu
06 30 950 6422 1055
Budapest, Balassi Bálint utca 19
http://www.saltnpepper.hu/home

Vegan rawfood classes organised by Mannanatural restaurant: 3 hour classes taught at their restaurant in a specially built teaching and dining are upstairs, after “cooking” the students are enjoying a healthy dinner.  For details and times check their website.
 1054 Budapest, Hold u. 13. 
+36-20-7769843 
info@mannatural.hu
http://www.mannatural.net/index.php?oldal=fooldal

Lacto vegetarian classes: are organised by 108.hu which seems to be part of the Hare Krishna church. They offer a big range of classes from Indian to Hungarian vegetarian, special Christmas menus, ginger bread making with children and so on.  Courses are taught by Hémangi dévi dászi populag vegetarian gastro blogger of http://www.vegavarazs.hu. The 108 school is only a short walk from budaveg vegetarian B&B!
info@108.hu
06-30-464 77601137.
Budapest, Szent István krt 6. III/12. 27-es csengő (Jászai Mari tér)
http://108.hu/fozotanfolyam  

Isteni Ízek Főzőtanfolyam/ Divine tastes cooking course also organised by the Hare Krishna Church at the Indian cultural centre. The TV chef Mahadzsan dász is teaching the course, which is planning to start 15th February 2012
Bp.1039 Lehel u. 15.-17
06 30 872 1995
mahadzsan@freemail.hu

Raw vegan gourmand dinners Finally if you don’t want to cook but still want to fill your belly with vegan raw delights than Életkonyha/ Lifekitchen is your place. They offer themed vegan raw gourmand dinners in their home for small groups. These girls also make amazing raw “sweets” and cakes, have a look at Sületlenségek website.
003670-70-28187, or 003630-399-4912
info@eletkonyha.hu

https://www.facebook.com/EletKonyha.LifeKitchen

Are there more? If so let me know happy to add to our blog!

At the moment two lovely Italian girls are staying at the budaveg apartment, one of them, Chiara translated our website to Italian and we are very happy to give her and her friend a week’s stay in return! The are very busy during the day exploring Budapest, the museums and the christmas market, but last night we all went out to Napfényes Étterem, probably the nicest vegan restaurant in town.
The restaurant belong to a Rudolf Steiner inspired movement, and they promote healthy vegan food and lifestyle. They also have a vegan patisserie, organize cooking and lifestyle courses issue beautifully illustrated cook books and have a small health food store at the restaurant.


You’ll find there a fantastic selection of vegan dishes: soup, pizzas, pasta dishes, traditional Hungarian dishes, puddings and cream cakes from their patisserie, salads, and an impressive range of organic juices and teas.

We would have had a lovely time if our children hadn’t run amok in the restaurant; they were running up and down in and out of the kitchen screaming with delight. So much for lethargic veggie kids! Luckily the staff not only put up with it but even gave them some coloured pencils and paper and played with them to give us a breather and a chance to eat our delicious meals. Taking pictures is not my forte especially when I have to run after my kids. This is the only moment they actually sat on their bums.

James chose vegan breaded cheese with rice and peas, and tartar sauce, Lita chose “Fried Pancakes Filled with Vegetable Cream served with Mashed Potatoes and Onions”, Chiara and I went for the vegan Brassói with Lecsó, which is called “Ratatouille Seitan Cutlets” on the menu, and the kids got half portions each of yesterday’s special: Mixed Vegetable Pakora with Mashed Potatoes. The vegan Brassói with Lecsó is my favourite dish: lots of chips and seitan in a great spicy sauce! Here is a close up of the table:

The prices are great, mains are between 1500-2000 Hufs. We had a lovely time, but probably won’t go there (or any other restaurant) till they are at least ten, or go without them. So please it is your turn to dine out in style at a lovely vegan restaurant!
I’d like to thank the staff again for being so super nice!

Address: Rózsa u 39, District VII Tram: 4/6 at Király utca and walk, or 76 trolley bus.
Open: every day 9am-10pm
Vegan, non smoking, no alcohol, sells health food too
English menu, English spoken.
http://www.napfenyesetterem.hu/

We got a tiny garden- even by British standards but I try to squeeze in everything we need: a play area for the kids and the dog, flowers and a vegetable garden. I was a bit reluctant at first, since there was a septic tank at the bottom of the garden for a good 30 years and I was afraid that the soil might be contaminated so for the first few years we were living here I only grew flowers and herbs.

One day browsing the net I came across a brilliant way of container gardening called an “earthbox”  and found a great tutorial on how to build your own and James kindly built a couple for us.

I was very excited about starting to produce our own food and got a lot of potting soil- but made the first mistake of buying “general flower potting soil” (általános virágföld in magyar) which is really not suitable for growing vegetables and can be toxic as I learnt later from Áron the organic farmer. I also bought far too many plants at the market- got carried away- and planted cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers and courgettes. I covered the top with the black plastic bag of the potting compost and filled up the containers with water- and checked the plants every day!

And gosh they grew! The peppers were doing really well even though they were a bit crammed, one cucumber went mental and grew all over the lawn and the tomatoes looked very promising too.

The courgette/ zuccini plants looked great and had a couple of baby fruits, then started rotting one day, still don’t know why- and it happened this year too.

The cucumber produced plenty of delicious fruit and we found it extremely exciting and satisfying to pick a fresh cucumber when were making sandwiches. The tomatoes soon had bright red fruit which caught the attention of our naughty dog, and he kept picking the tomatoes- and destroying the plants with his gentle 35 kg body. Why on earth did we raise him vegetarian? So not many tomatoes for us. James built an impressive fence around the plants but soon Oli demolished that too and gulped down the rest. Ah well, at least the peppers did well.

A year later when we were back in England I was flipping through a gardening catalogue and the “upside down tomatoes” caught my eyes. I was a bit sceptical but willing to try; if it worked we’d have tomatoes growing out of the dog’s range! If you google it you will find plenty of video tutorials  on how to make your own. I just got a couple of builder’s buckets, James drilled a hole in the bottom and voila. I put in the tomato plant and planted flowers on the top. To be honest the flowers did a lot better than the tomatoes, the did produce some fruit but none of them did great. I experimented with strawberries and cucumbers this year and the strawberry did ok, the cucumber did really well, till we forgot to water it once- which ruined the plant. The moral of the story is that cucumbers should go in Earthboxes, they need so much water (and they are safe from the dog). For more images click the photos or the flickr button in the side bar.


Next time I'll write about container gardening and pergolas.
Are you also growing vegetables at home?

A short walk from the budaveg vegetarian B&B you find the loveliest park in the city, Margaret Island rich in sights and history. It belongs to our municipality and can be easily reached by bridge or boat. The island is car free, there are two buses and a car park at the northern tip, it is also possible to rent a bike or a bicycle-carriage.

The island was in fact called “The Island of Rabbits” for a long time, and received it’s name from Princess Margaret,  who lived as a nun on the island. She was the daughter of King Bela IV, who vowed to dedicate his daughter to God after the Tatar invasion, so Margaret entered the convent as a child. You will find the ruins of the convent and the memorial of St Margaret almost at the centre of the island.   Today the island is a lovely landscaped park  full of 150-200 year old enormous sycamore trees and lots of flowers. There is a rubber jogging track all the way around the island which is enormously popular amongst  joggers.

If you enter from Margaret Bridge you pass first the Athletics centre, then the centenary monument commemorating the unification of Buda and Pest in 1873. Right behind that is the musical fountain; there are several speakers around blasting out Pavarotti to accompany the water. On the west side is the Olympic Swimming pool named after Alfréd Hajós, and right behind it a large playground. On the east side are beautifully maintained parks with flower beds and roses. There are also couple of bars and a restaurant.

Further down on the west side there is a small zoo and a large bird hospital, we go there very often since our kids love animals, and they can also go pony riding there. A short walk from the zoo and you get to the ruins of the convent and the Chapel of St Michael.

On the east side you can find the biggest water park in Budapest, Palatinus, with many swimming pools, slides, thermal water, a wave machine and children’s pools.

Further up north is an enormous green field where people play football and frisbee on sunny days.  The island is full of wildlife, a very good place for urban birdwatching, also red squirrels abound.

At the other end of the island you can find the two thermal hotels and the car park. Right next to them you can see the lovely Japanese Garden with a small thermal pond, full of gold fish and terrapins.

There is a brand new “eco” playground behind the parking area and there is a popular bar called Cha cha cha at the very northern tip of the island.

Should you get hungry there are vegetarian places quite close: Nem Süti and Keleti on the pest side and Govinda Buda and Napfényes patisserie on the Buda side

Bio ABC is one of the best equipped organic food shops in Budapest and right next door they run a cute little vegan eatery and juice bar.  They are on the “little ring road” between Kálvin Square and Astoria.

This is a vegan eatery, with the exception of honey in some cakes, and the majority of the ingredients are from organic sources. They do salads, fresh fruit and vegetable juices and couple of warm dishes a day. Today for example they had carrot, apple, beetroot, melon, orange and sand thorn juice. There were soups, and three main dishes, all vegan of course. I chose the special offer (which you can always check on their website) and it was potato, squash stew, tofu, grain burger and salad; it was 850 Hufs, very tasty and quite a good deal, don’t you think?


I also got a plum strudel for pudding; 350 Hufs. There were a selection of cakes, some sugar free, some made with cane sugar. My plum strudel was delicious, full of real fruit.

They seem to follow the Rudolf Steiner “grain of the day” in their menu- with one exception: on Thursday they have buckwheat instead of rye. The small place was packed when I was there;  nice to know that so many are into vegan food in our corner of the world! There is only space for 6 chairs and many people get a  take-away, in fact all the food is prepared by 10 am and people are encouraged to pick up their lunch early to avoid queueing.

Address: Múzeum krt 19.
Phone: +3613173043
Open: 9am-6pm
http://www.bioabc.hu/

Summer is almost over, school is about to start and this is the best time for a city break! The weather is pleasant; not too hot, yet sunny, prices are lower and there is so much more to do than sightseeing!

7-11 September Wine festival in the Royal castle in Budapest, 15 counties are presenting 220 vineyards and 5000 types of wine, this year the special guest is France. Folk music, craft market and children’s activities make it into a great family event. Hungary has 22 different wine regions,  and lots of excellent vineyards- but most are relatively small so even their award winning wine hardly makes it abroad, but here is the perfect opportunity to taste a bit more than Bull’s blood and Tokaji.

image from: www.winefestival.hu

If wine is not your cup of tea how about a Chocolate and Sweets Festival? It is held 16-18 September also in the castle district, and looks yummy! Lots of handmade chocolate, ice cream and tastings of course.

We celebrate the composer Franz Liszt this year which culminates at the LISZT AND EUROPE INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 29 September – 2 October 2011 held at these venues: MTA Roosevelt téri Díszterme, Művészetek Palotája, Millenáris

8-17 October Budapest Autumn Festival: is a prestigious art festival with art exhibitions, concerts, film, theatre and dance.

If you are into pop and rock, you can look forward to the following concerts:

George Michael 19 September,
Bryan Ferry 21 September,
Britney Spears. 30 September
Rammstein 10 November
Sade 23 November
Rihanna, 8 December

The budaveg apartment is available in September and October, you can book the best veggie B&B in town here or simply get in touch!
See you soon in vegetarian Hungary…

If you have kids under 12 or you still haven’t lost your fascination with vehicles you are in for a treat in Budapest, there are a couple of places to mesmerise you, in fact there 6 transport museums.

Airplane park is right next to terminal 2, There are 8 planes and one helicopter and you can actually enter some of the planes: IL-18, TU-134 and TU-154. There is also a picnic area and you can take pictures and video. You can also combine the visit with a 2 hour tour of the airport by bus: you can see take offs and landings, refuelling, baggage handling, and peek into the maintenance area as well.
Open 15 March- 15 October every day 9 am till 6 pm (last entry 5 pm)
website

The Museum of Transport (Közlekedési múzeum) in the city park is very easy to reach by public transport. There are trains, buses, cars and models, and outside is a 424 steam engine.  They often have special shows at weekends.

Kossuth Múzeumhajó is an old steamboat made in 1913 in the Ganz Danubius Works and served as a  ”farmer’s boat”- picking up farmers and their produce in south Hungary and bringing them to the Central market hall in Budapest. Today the boat is also a restaurant, but everybody is welcome to enter and look around. The boat is right next the Széchenyi Chain Bridge on the Pest side.

Földalatti Vasút Múzeum is the underground museum at Deák Ferenc Metro stop, it commemorates the first Metro on the continent which opened here in 1896, 1000 years after the arrival by the first Hungarians in 896). There is a reconstruction of an original underground stop with beautiful Zsolnay tiles, and of course the underground carriages, all made of wood!

Open every day (except Monday) 10 am – 5 pm

The Train History Park is just outside the centre, but you can get there in style on the steam train from Nyugati railway station. It is an old station, with plenty of old trains, two turn tables, model trains, rail bikes etc. They organize trips on the old trains, special visits and exhibits.

Open Tuesday to Sunday 10 am-5pm
Address: 1142 Budapest Tatai u. 95.
Tel: 06 1 450 1497.

Városi Tömegközlekedési Múzeum- Szentendre This massive public transport museum is right behind the train station in Szentendre (which is a lovely place to visit anyway) you can easily get there by the suburban train from Budapest in 40 minutes. There are many old trains, buses, trams and you can enter most of them, a real treat for kids. All the pictures of this blogpost were taken at a recent visit here.
Open 1 April- 31 October   Tuesday to Sunday 10 am-5pm
Address: 2000 Szentendre, Dózsa György út 3.

Also we have the  Children’s Railway (timetable and info) which is a small gauge forest railway run by children: they sell the tickets, inspect them, signal at the stations, only the driver is an adult. You can take the tram 56 from Moszkva/ Szell Kalman Square to the Hűvösvölgy end or the Fogaskerkű (Cogwheel railway) to the Széchényi-hegy destination.

Last week we joined a community supported agricultural project, something I have been contemplating for a while. I do believe organic produce is the best for both the family and the environment and we have been aiming to buy as much organic as possible. A dear friend of ours used to get  veg for us from the organic market at MOM Park, but they are now packing up to move to Hawaii to join a raw food community which left us with no organic veg!
I asked two of my friends who joined this CSA at the start and both were extremly pleased so we signed up too and last Friday picked up the first batch from Szentendre:

Pretty impressive, right? We got 6 kgs of tomatoes, a bag of green peppers, a big bag of cucumbers, a handful of basil and dill, 3 big squashes, 4 courgettes,  a bunch of carrots, a bag of potatoes, a celery, cabbage, a bunch of beetroot, a roman lettuce and a big piece of horseradish! Seems really a lot, and now my meal planning has to upgrade to make sure we can use all these tomatoes and squashes this week- which means making vegetarian lecsó perhaps 3 times a week. The horseradish is way beyond my scope so I happily gave it away to a friend.

Budaveg guests can now look forward to organic tomatoes and cucumbers among their breakfast goodies!

This farm is on Szentendre Island and we’ll receive vegetables throughout the season and some berries, probably melons too, but they have no fruit trees yet. They are also producing wheat and sunflowers so I am looking forward to organic flour and sunflower oil! You have to pick up the produce at Szentendre every Friday afternoon. When you join you sign a contract to buy your share of the produce which is 28000 hufs/5 weeks.You also get on their mailing list and you recive an email with what to expect on Friday and great vegetarian recipe suggestions. At the moment 30 some families joined but they have enough produce for 60 families so drop us a line if you are interested!