budaveg – vegetarian Hungary your vegetarian home in Hungary

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!

A few weeks ago on a sunny Saturday morning we were again driving up north to the “Biokert” organic farm where we get our vegetables from in a CSA scheme. We had enjoyed the harvest festival so much we were really looking forward to be back on the farm where our kids and dog can roam free and we can meet and greet the other members.

We were invited to help with the spice paprika harvest- which we did for 10 minutes before we realized that our kids and bouncy dog were more trouble than they were worth and retreated from the paprika field. We walked around to see how the vegetables were doing in the poly tunnels, and collected sunflower seeds from the drying flower heads for the bird feeder. Oliver was delighted when Dora, farmer Áron’s golden retriever mix, joined him and they happily romped around and made a mess.

Everybody bought cakes and snacks and it was hard to leave the picnic table with all those delights. A friendly couple made a delicious vegan curry on the open fire.

But the real treat -at least for the kids- came when we all piled on the trailer of the tractor and Áron drove us over to a neighbouring pony farm! The trip was the bumpiest ever which meant that all those little kids were screaming with delight. They all could go horse riding on the ponies  including our 1,5 year old girl who hasn’t been near a horse before. Since than she keeps saying “horsie horsie” non stop. There was a flock of sheep and a very friendly pussycat as well to entertain the kids while they were waiting for their ride. There was also a real double decker tram from a bygone era.

Then we jumped on the tractor and bumped back to the farm for lunch- but unfortunately our kids were absolutely knackered by then (they get up at 6 am), so we had to say goodbye and pile them into the car. We were heartbroken to miss the vegan curry but Renáta filled our Tupperware box to take away. Yum!

The CSA season is almost over and we are looking forward to next year. It was brilliant to get all those lovely organic veg, fruit, flour, paprika spice and sun-dried tomatoes from the farm. It definitely reformed our eating habits, as we had to use the veg we were given- and started eating beetroot, mangold, turnips -and learnt a handful of new recipes. Meeting like minded people from our quarters was an added bonus, and it seems many other families will join next year.
Do you live around Szentendre? You might want to join too!

This has been one of my favourite places since it opened, a real gem in the city. Napos Oldal is very conveniently located between Octogon and Nyugati tér easy to pop in when I am running errands or on the way to the cinema in the evening. The name means “sunny side” and it’s surprisingly sunny due to the corner location.

Half of the premises is a veggie cafe, the other half is a health food shop, selling everything from seitan to organic cosmetics. They have a wide selection of fresh salads, baked and fried vegetables, sandwiches and cakes. There is a different soup and main dish every day, you can see the daily offers on their website. There is also a wide selection of teas and other drinks. The menu  is almost always vegan, and the majority of the salads and sandwiches are too. My favourite is the seitan sandwich, and these are pre-packed so you can easily and quickly take them away.

They do a wide range of cakes from sugar free candida cakes to real patisserie beauties and none of the cakes (or dishes) contain eggs, yeast or white sugar. Obviously a real heaven for the health conscious or candida sufferers. Also the ingredients are  roughly 30% organic.

I chose two types of salads, bulghur and potato, a vegetable pie, a vegetable pancake, a carrot and walnut cake and a cup of green tea  for my lunch. Firstly the cups are BIG, which I just love, I love tea and I find small cups annoying, why go stingy on water?! The food was delicious and filling, the cake was a “healthy” cake, so not too sweet, but I like it that way.

You order at the counter, all the signs are in English, and you pay at the health food counter on the way out, I think it is great that you don’t need to queue twice if you want to buy anything. There is a nice and very light seating are with 5 tables, it was busy at lunchtime, but I always had a seat, as many buy takeaway.

Napos oldal is an amazingly peaceful place right in the middle of the city, highly recommended!
 
Address: Jókai u. 7. Metro: Nyugati tér on blue line or tram: 4/6 at Nyugati tér or Oktogon
Open: Monday- Friday 10 am till 8 pm, Saturday 10 am till 2 pm.
Tel: 1-3540048
http://www.naposoldal.com/

We have been long time fans of the restaurant Napfényes Ízek- Sunny Tastes, they have superb vegan food and amazing vegan cakes. A few years ago they opened a vegan patisserie bit off the beaten track on the Buda side of the Árpád bridge. First they only sold entire cakes on order -which is great if you or a budaveg guest has a birthday- and delivered cakes to health food stores around town. We tried they vegan chocolate birthdaycake once and it was absolutely delicious and fooled non vegans thinking it was a “proper cream cake”!

A few month ago they opened a tiny shop right next door and now you can buy individual slices and ice cream. They are only licensed to sell cake, so it is not a real patisserie; there is no tea or coffee, and no seating area indoors, it is mainly to take away and to try the different tastes before you decide on your birthday or wedding cake.


I popped in the other day to pick up some treats for our family. There were four different ice creams and several different cakes, cream cakes and savoury ones. The lady was super friendly and we had a good chat about ingredients. All is vegan of course and they don’t use preservatives, colourants and artificial sweeteners. They use carob instead of chocolate,  cane sugar instead of beet sugar, and they use spelt wheat in many cakes, they also had gluten free millet cakes. Also they prepare some cakes with xylitol which has an amazing list of benefits, I am so impressed that I decided to try using it at home too.

I got “krémes” which is a custard cake and sacher torte- a jam filled chocolate cake, both very traditional in Hungary. The  ”krémes” was almost like a real one, really creamy, lovely taste, the sacher was also very delicious, though it didn’t remind us of the sacher but rather an English Christmas pudding. Yumm, just look at our daughter:

Napfényes Cukrászda
1037 Budapest, Kiskorona u. 8.
Tel: 06-1-242-3229, 06-20-315-3333
http://www.napfenyescukraszat.hu/ 

Open: Monday-Sunday 10-6 pm

Few month ago we joined a community supported agricultural scheme and since then we got our vegetables from Farmer Áron Pető from Szigetmonostor. We have been delighted with the deal, the vegetables are lovely, fresh and there is always too much! Apart from the vegetables we  have also received wholemeal flour, white flour, paprika spice, and water and honeydew melons.

Last weekend they invited all the members for a harvest celebration and we all had a lovely time. I was pretty curious to see the farm and the production methods, especially since a week earlier I visited a non-organic tomato farm and was appalled by the amount of fertilizer and the techniques they used. Look at the white bags, all fertilizer, the tomato plants are roughly 15 meters high, they are not in the soil but in tiny grow bags, as they grow they lower the plant and the non producing stem is lying down. The tomatoes are picked in the “growing area”, red and green ones as well, and they “ripen” on the shelves of the supermarket. Yuck.

factory farming: look at all those bags of fertilizer!

Organic tomatoes are a totally different kettle of fish; the plant is in the soil and there is not an ounce of artificial fertilizer in sight, the tomatoes are picked when they are ripe and we get them fresh and warm straight off the stem. If you never had the good fortune to eat warm ripened tomatoes off the plant than rush to Hungary, they are so tasty and sweet!

We ran around the farm, our dog and children were delighted, Oli made friends with the farmer’s dog and a stray puppy who is not so stray any more, and our kids ran in the poly tunnels, chased the puppy and stuffed their faces at the picnic table. The pumpkin soup was delicious and surprisingly all treats were vegetarian!

The members ate and chatted and some helped the farmer take the seeds out of these pumpkins; and now we can look forward to pumpkin seed oil which has an impressive list of benefits.

A vegan restaurant where the chef doesn’t do any cooking? Intriguing, isn’t it? This was my first raw food restaurant experience, since this is the first raw foodie place in Budapest. Raw food for most of us means salad with fresh juice but here I was presented with a selection of  main courses and cakes.

Mannatural is well hidden in a small market building though right in the city centre a few minutes from Arany János metro stop. There is a seating area at the bar and at big stone tables and the place is surprisingly sunny!

They had two main dishes on offer and I chose the stuffed paprika with sweetcorn sauce and salad, which was very tasty. I dived in and only remembered to take a photo after I had eaten half of it. But click on the photo and it will take you to the Mannatural album on flickr with some pro images of their dishes. Around me every other customer was eating the chocolate cake which looked really delicious but it was one of the rare moments of my life when I just didn’t fancy a pudding. (No I wasn’t sick just had an ice cream half an hour earlier). I asked a friendly guy next to me at the table and he confirmed that it was indeed just as yummy as it looked.

Ákos, the manager was behind the bar and was happy to answer my questions about the food and the restaurant. They opened 5 weeks ago and at the moment they only open at lunchtime, however they have now an area on the first floor as well where they are going to hold active and passive raw food classes- which means you can watch and eat or prepare the food with the chef. Also in November they open their raw, vegan patisserie!

They also do home delivery, you can check the actual offer on their website.
He assured me that they are vegan, the only exception is honey in the lemonade. 80% of the ingredients come from organic sources and they in fact have 3 organic (biodynamic)  gardens around the capital from where they get their fruit, vegetables and honey. All food is made of fresh sprouts, grains and vegetables and special blenders and ceramic knives are used for the preparation. They have a blog in Hungarian with great recipes.

Mannatural is in this market building, the entrance is from Hold utca or Vadász utca.

Address: 1054 Budapest, Hold u. 13
Open:  M-F: 11:00-15:00
http://www.mannatural.net/index.php?oldal=fooldal

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/

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!