“The paprika was in fact brought to Europe by the Spaniards, probably from Southern Mexico or Peru. The first shipment was apparently sent by a colleague of Columbus in 1494. It seems to have arrived in Hungary sometime in the sixteenth century, brought by people fleeing from the Turks, for the plant had found its way from Spain to the Balkans and was known in Hungary as 'heathen' or 'Turkish' pepper. Since then it has become the characteristic spice of Hungarian cuisine.” EuropeHungaryBalkansPaprika1494 Book:Roads That Move: A Journey through Eastern Europe Source: Roads That Move: A Journey through Eastern Europe
“This Magyar-Vlach hostility is shared to some extent by both peoples. The Hungarians feel themselves to be surrounded by a sea of Slavs and other races with which they have no affinity. It is certainly true that their language has no affinity with the Indo-European languages by which they are surrounded. The Romanians, or some of them, feel that they are an outpost of Latin civilisation set in a hostile sea of Asiatic Magyars and Slavs. The truth is that both peoples inhabit a part of the world which has been overrun, depopulated, repopulated and overrun again so many times through their histories, that any notion of racial integrity is merely absurd. Huns, Avars, Magyars, Turks, Cumans, Pechenegs, Bulgars, Vachs, Ruthenians, Saxons, Austrians, Greeks and just about every other European and Asian people have contributed to the stew. What provides a national integrity, where it can be said to exist at all, is language, and an acknowledgement of a common history. But the fierce hatreds, alas, are unlikely to vanish. Communism kept then below the surface, as it suppressed all forms of dissent and much individuality. Now that the cork has been taken from the bottle, it may be that all sorts of evil spirits will roam abroad and none more dangerous than that romantic nationalism which defines itself by the hostile exclusion of others from the community of what counts as human.” LanguageCommunismNationalismHungaryRomaniaMagyarSlavsVlach Book:Roads That Move: A Journey through Eastern Europe Source: Roads That Move: A Journey through Eastern Europe