Index – Culture – A young couple wrote a gastronomy book about the Szeged experience

A young couple thought boldly and wrote a book on Szeged gastronomy. The idea came from the minds of Alexandra Székely and Gergő Fabó. Although they have been working with Szeged gastronomy for several years, it was only last year that the decision was made to make what they do tangible. They put together a vulgar, daring and form-breaking publication.

What inspired you to write the book?

Gergő Fabó: The gastronomic revolution in Hungary has started to shine for a while in Budapest and Lake Balaton. According to us, the Great Plain also has a rich gastronomy, but this history is not yet fully recorded. So we wanted to show that life is bubbly here too.

Alexandra Székely: We said at the beginning that Szeged also needs a place on that non-existent gastronomic map, because the hospitality in this city is so diverse that it deserves to be written about.

And why gastro? After all, Alexandra is studying law and Gergő is a communication specialist.

Alexandra Székely: We like to eat. (laughs)

Gergő Fabó: In our opinion, the Szeged gastroculture has not received enough attention yet. It would be nice if we went beyond the fact that the people of Szeged are only associated with clam chowder. You have to show that the city is much more than that!

Did they have prior experience embarking on a project of this volume?

Alexandra Székely: We have already taken care of the gastronomic restaurant in Szeged. We have a blog called Let’s Look Back. We have been writing about restaurants in the city for several years. We thought it would be nice to make this tangible in some way.

What makes a book different?

Gergő Fabó: We think about implementation in a groundbreaking way. We tried to present it in terms of content and images and included so many additional things that it would not be a simple guide. For this reason, in addition to writing about restaurants, for example, recipes have been included.

Alexandra Székely: Even though we know that printed things don’t spin that much anymore, we wanted to be able to exist traditionally. After all, it was Gergő’s idea. It came out of her head last November. We started her actual work last spring. We gather potential restaurants. There were over a hundred restaurants on our list. We sent them letters asking if they were interested in being included in our book. We describe what it was about. There were those who rejected us out of hand, and there were those who immediately responded that he was in on it. Of course, we also chose those who said yes. We didn’t want everyone to participate. We have totally stayed away from franchise restaurants. The look was to have the most defining restaurants in town, the most popular with guests and tourists.

What was the main thread that you started with?

Gergő Fabó: The production process started last summer. We also made up the content of the book. It has emerged in our heads that we want it to be more than an average gastronomy book. This is why we became aware of trying to summarize the history of a particular restaurant in a short story. How they built what is now. I did the interviews, which I later converted into text. It was very exciting. Pumpkin turned into good fast-paced informational texts.

Alexandra Székely: I had a specific idea of ​​what I wanted to visualize. We work with a great professional to put together what an image should look like. I wanted it to be dynamic so that whoever saw it felt that they had to try the food. Fantastic pictures were taken.

What did they want to show in the book?

Alexandra Székely: We wanted to convey the Szeged experience. We present the city, the city’s restaurants and its food. I think this is the best way to get to know a place.

What recipes were used?

Gergő Fabó: When we looked for the places, they asked what kind of recipe to give away. I said I trust them, they can be on the menu, they can invent something new. Just be specific to Szeged. One of the bakeries prepared a chocolate mousse with tonka bean and paprika for this occasion. The average person cannot even imagine bell peppers in candy. But even we didn’t think it would stand out as a dessert. It has been our favorite sweet ever since.

What was the mood like when you went to a restaurant?

Gergő Fabó: The owners of the restaurant were excited, but they were really waiting for us to leave. There were those who were used to approaching him, routinely moving in front of the cameras. There were those who said that they did not want to see you again in the photos. It was a lot of super experiences. It was a great job creating visual material of this size.

Alexandra Székely: We always speak very well to chefs. It has been said, for example, that when food is sprinkled with edible gold, the waiter regularly removes it because the guest says the foil has been left behind.

Gergő Fabó: We take a look at the kitchen, which guests hardly ever see. The kitchen is a very exciting terrain. Every restaurant is different. The small spoon after the last one also has a place. It was really cool to see them put together the menu, the last chef was asked about it as well. That is teamwork. People who can be trusted, who can work alongside them and who are open again work there. We have seen what makes a restaurant work well: people.

What restaurants ended up in the book?

Gergő Fabó: Almost all kinds. Everything from the fish tavern to street food and fine dining. The more diverse the city, the more diverse the book.

Alexandra Székely: The book not only offers restaurants, there are also three residents of Szeged. They were selected by application. One of them is a grandmother from Szeged, the other is a radio operator, Balázs Molnár, and we also chose a lawyer from Szeged, Zoltán Ragány, who appeared on the RTL Klub Könyhafőnök program. Their recipes can also be found in the post.

What was the biggest difficulty you encountered in your work?

Gergő Fabó: The coronavirus also made our work difficult, but the truth is that we dedicate a lot of time to it in addition to working and studying. There were times when we canceled friends’ gatherings, stayed the night, or didn’t even go to bed. That was difficult. But when we took the book in our hands, we had a “sense of surprise.” We work with super professionals: both our photographer and our graphic artist were very exposed to themselves.

How do you think national restaurants could improve their standards?

Gergő Fabó: An inn can also be sophisticated. But more importantly, a restaurant needs to educate its audience. Introducing the ingredients, the new cooking technology, because the Hungarian still sees fried meat or stew when he goes to a restaurant.

Alexandra Székely: Which is good pumpkin anyway, there is nothing wrong, I also like to eat stew or fried meat. But you shouldn’t be a kayasnob. Traditional food can also be developed, just like traditional food can be coldly prepared.

How did they get to Szeged? You’re from the county of Békés.

Alexandra Székely: We both studied in Szeged. Gergő is done. I believe that anyone who comes to Szeged will develop an ultra-strong attachment. I moved here five years ago and have lived with the city ever since. I feel like Szeged is my second love after Gergő.

(Cover image: Alexandra Székely and Gergő Fabó. Photo: Róbert Gavra)