Tea at Trianon: The Ethos of a Hungarian Snacking Tray

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, October 9, 2021

The Ethos of a Hungarian Snacking Tray

From Pocket:

In Hungary, where my husband András, our kids, and I travel to visit family each summer, a gathering—planned or impromptu—centers around a giant snacking board crowded with everything under the sun: sausages, Trappist cheeses, and loads of wax peppers, plus snappy cucumbers and spring onions sometimes plucked straight from the soil. It’s not a tidy, orderly cheese plate with fanned slices of fruit or tidy piles of berries. It is pure chaos, heft, and audacity—and endless in its generosity. Nearby on a plate, or sometimes still tucked in a bread bag, are stacks of buttered bread to pile it all on, plus eggs, mustard, sauerkraut, and dozens of kinds of pickles. The idea: guests can eat as little (or more likely as much) as they want in the way they want, with zero formality expected.
The ethos of a Hungarian snacking tray, or hidegtál, is as advantageous for host as it is for guests. For starters, there is little forethought required; you can bake, hunt, gather, and practically fake your way to a beautiful spread on a single board or platter, and bring it to the table—under your favorite plum tree or in the shade of a simple porch—in one fell swoop. There’s no running about for plates and forks (fingers work), no fussing or pouring (drinks like beer, fizzy water, or soda are often plopped down in their original bottles). Your focus as host goes immediately and wholly to your company, conversation, and laughter. Guests of all ages, from crawlers to grandparents, can circle in and nibble at will.
Perhaps the best part of a proper snack tray in Hungary is that it’s an all-in-one meal. Teeming with proteins and veggies and even sweets—like poppy-flecked pastries, butter cookies, or flaky stuffed strudels—when it’s done, your duty as a host is, too. (Read more.)