Farkas Zoltán is a serious fan and lover all good things Hungarian,
which is why he is standing behind the counter at Balaton Izlelő (Taste
of Balaton), a specialty foods store and bistro stocking a dizzying
variety of gourmet treats produced around Hungary’s iconic lake region.
Neatly prepared on the counter to the delight of eager customers, the
sampling Farkas offers is as colorful as it is mouth-watering:
elderflower and quince syrups, basil and pesto-infused cheeses, and
chocolate and cinnamon covered pumpkin seeds were being offered on a
recent day.

“This is what I like to call the Hungarian ying and yang” says
Farkas, before dipping the sampling spoon in the arugula- pumpkin-seed
paste and handing it to one excited guest. Anecdotes and a deep
knowledge of ingredients and producers pepper the conversation as the
sprightly salesmen continues the taste test. “The arugula is a
documented female aphrodisiac while the pumpkin-seed paste is a
gentleman’s best friend as it’s really beneficial for prostate health.”

Along one wall, neatly packed blonde wood shelves are packed
with specialty food items as familiar as szörp—thick fruity syrups used
to sweeten water—and jam that incorporate some unusual flavor
combinations (think pear with chocolate, plums with lavender, carrots
with orange, or pumpkins with vanilla and orange), or as entrancingly
unique as arugula-pumpkinseed paste, apple and beer mustard, and caramel
cream with lemons and lavender.

Discerning shoppers can also choose from dozens of different artisan
beers, fruity ciders, vinegars, spices and oils ranging from organic
cooking oils made from walnuts, sesame seeds, and grape seeds to
essential oils for massages.

“Lots of people walk in wondering what the place is, and now they’ve
become regulars,” says Farkas. “They go out of their way to stop in
because there are a lot of things they find here that they can’t find
anywhere else.”

The inventory reflects the refined palate of owner Annamária Kulcsár,
a passionate gourmet with a special love of the Balaton region, who
made a childhood dream come true by opening this high-end delicatessen
in the summer of 2014.

“The goal is to display and represent the small-scale producers and
family businesses working in and around the Balaton region that don’t
necessarily have the means or opportunity to get large scale
representation in supermarkets,” explains Kulcsár. For many people Lake
Balaton (which Hungarians like to call “The Hungarian Sea”)
is synonymous with cheap beer, lángos, and fried food by the
lakeside. Balaton Izlelő proves that there is much more to discover.

Young creatives are flocking to Poznan, a Polish city revamped.

by Anna J. Kutor

Hungary’s street food scene has generally traditionally been limited to
the lángos, palacsinta, and kürtöskalács variety. But the international
trend for pop-up food experiences from mobile devices has sped its way
into Budapest. Still in their first years of operation, trucks selling
gourmet burgers or Mexican comfort food are now feeding office workers
and the late-night party crowd throughout the city. As these mobile food
vendors set off on a roll, offering a variety of wallet-friendly eats
and drinks—from gourmet burgers to innovative cheese and pasta dishes—we
take a look at some of the city’s best.

Zing Burger (Király utca 13, Budapest 1075, +36 70 639 7917)

All trends begin somewhere, and Zing Burger can lay claim not only to
jump-starting Budapest’s food truck craze, but also the rush to
elevated street food. The massive queue of hungry revelers snaking from
the side of this black-and-orange truck is a testament to the
fingerlickingly-delicious burger menu that the young crew have been
serving for years. Just like at Ring, their brick-and-mortar post run by
Ádám Susánszky, this mobile eatery is serious about
its ingredients—think juicy beef patties, original home-made sauces, and
round, hearty buns. And they continue to raise the bar with new burger
concoctions on a regular basis. There are multiple vendors, but their
main distribution spot is at Gozsdu Udvar and at the food court Karaván
in the Jewish district, while they roll out to music festivals
throughout the summer.

BITE Food Truck (Teréz körút 62, Budapest 1062, +36 30 690 2185)

A bit of a departure from the other food-focused carts, BITE Food
Truck is the on-the-roll outlet of the bakery with the same name that is
stationed on the side of the WestEnd shopping center near the Nyugati
Square. Unlike typical food trucks, this curbside kitchen comes complete
with baking facilities as they aim to deliver premium and innovative
bakery products of guaranteed high quality. Pretzels come with cheese,
bacon or sausage fillings. There are cinnamon rolls topped with
mascarpone, and kakaós csiga filled with raisins—and these are just the
breakfast options. More substantial meal options include the pulled-pork
sandwiches and omelette wraps, which go well with the fruity yogurts
and freshly-squeezed juices.

Pasta Station (Kazinczy utca 18, Budapest 1076, +36 20 989 7810)

Finding Budapest’s gourmet pasta mobile takes some work; the Fiat
Ducato-turned-mobile kitchen operates in locations all over the city
(although a good jumping off point is at the Karaván food court or near
the Design Terminal at Erzsébet Square). But this black-and-yellow van
still has a strong following, thanks to its inventive, nearly
daily-changing menu featuring a range of home-made pastas, sandwiches,
and soups. Bestsellers are the spicy garlic pasta and the creamy liver
in red wine sauce pasta, as well as the BBQ sandwich stuffed with slices
of grill pork loins, grilled cheese, and mushrooms.

Berlin Canteen (Kazinczy utca 18, Budapest 1076, +36 30 343 9656)

Foot-long grilled German sausages are a sure-fire recipe for success
for hungry partiers in the Jewish district, which is why it’s no
surprise that Berlin Canteen has been making such a splash. Stationed in
the Karaván food court, the currywurst and bratwurst get the most local
love, but we also recommend the fries and sandwiches … filling and
completely delicious.

Lángos Máshogy (Kazinczy utca 18, Budapest 1076, +36 30 343 9656)

Brand new to the mobile food scene is Lángos Máshogy (or “Lángos
Differently)”, which as its name suggests is a haute homage to the cult,
yet humble lángos. It’s technically a shipping container and not a food
truck, set up in the Karaván food court, this newcomer is the
brainchild of Gábor Almási who aims to raise the lángos bar with not
only exceptional dough, but also with a great new selection of toppings
and fillings (think sausage, goose crackling, and gouda cheese). The
final product may be on the small side (but think of it as a good reason
to order two different varieties), but all things considered, it’s
better than most served in the city.

Paneer (Kazinczy utca 18,  Budapest 1076, +36 30 343 9656)

Grilled cheeses are the driving force behind this mobile purveyor of
must-try treats which feed the city’s meat-free eaters inside the
Karaván food court. Beware: the irresistible scent of these grilled or
breaded cheesy delicacies—ranging from smoked gomolya to cheddar,
emmental to mozzarella—will trigger a primordial drool reaction from
even the most carnivorous eaters. Go all out and order the grilled
cheese sandwich with sun-dried tomatoes, onion chips, and jalapenos …
 and wash it all down with a slice of cheese cake.

Magic Burger (Alíz utca 8, Budapest 1116, +36 1 426 4968)

You wouldn’t expect to find culinary bliss in a parking lot of a
Tesco shopping center in the out-of-way district of Újbuda. Yet there it
is, an unassuming bastion of big-portioned burgers that is worthy of
the mobile kitchen’s “magic” title. The quarter-pounders here not only
satisfy those with big appetites, but also diners with selective taste
buds. The choice is huge: nine types of meat, four types of home-made
buns, and sixteen toppings (besides the seasonal offerings which now
include goose-liver burgers). Saddle up with a side of onion rings and a
bowl of coleslaw, and enjoy comfort food at its finest, and most
filling.

You can grow your own piece of urban paradise on little more than a
pocket-sized patio or a sunny windowsill with Daniel Schipper’s portable
and foldable greenhouse. Anna J. Kutor recently spoke to the Dutch
designer about this eco-innovation.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Schipper

Environmental awareness and design have
long gone hand in hand in the Netherlands - a massively over-crowded yet
nature-friendly country that stands at the forefront of contemporary design.
Dutch industrial designers, architects and product developers of today are
increasingly focused on creating modern and more livable urban landscapes that
limit wasteful excesses, utilize existing spaces and structures in smarter ways
and help city dwellers reconnect with Mother Nature on a new level.
Contributing to this rapidly expanding design trend is Daniel Schipper, a young
environmentally-savvy designer and entrepreneur who devised a flexible and
folding greenhouse that will help big-city folk reclaim the art of gardening
within the confines of tight spacial constraints.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Schipper

Locally Grown

Schipper got to thinking about collapsible models and the practical dimensions of
sustainable product design while attending the Design Academy in Eindhoven.
“Living in Amsterdam I noticed that in people here really enjoy their
outside spaces like balcony’s and gardens, putting plants and pots on every
square inch. My next thought was why not make a greenhouse for use in the city,
so I started folding paper models for days in a row until the right shape and
folding system appeared,” he says.

His protracted folding and molding turned into a frameless origami-esque shape,
similar to that of a fancy curved fan,which can be folded flat or expanded when
required. And, as to not contradict its nature-preserving purpose, he chose
resilient recyclable plastic - thin see-through fabric for the top and a dark
beefier plastic for the bottom - to produce the final prototype. In it’s fully
assembled form, this light-weight and low-maintenance creation unfurls into a
50 cm high, 40 cm wide and 100 cm long green unit that facilitates the growth
of all kinds of herbs, vegetables and fruits.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Schipper

Eco Investment

Despite the galloping buzz generated by the press and green blogosphere, Schipper’s
mini greenhouse still awaits commercial production. Finding a producer or
company in the Netherlands has been difficult task, but the design is
attracting serious attention abroad, where people, he says, are really
enthusiastic about the greenhouse design.

“Creating “eco” and “sustainable” designs in today’s changing
financial environment is a real challenge for young designers, but I think my
own generation and the next are very aware of the greater possibilities in
green designs,” says the industrious innovator. The market demand for
viable green technologies and energy-saving solutions is booming, regardless of
the ongoing economic doom and gloom, so it’s just a matter of time before this
portable plant-pod starts popping up on roof terraces and diminutive balconies
around town. Until that time comes, Schipper continues to enjoys the fruits of
his labor.

It may seem like the inappropriate commercialization of a long-standing local
cultural heritage, but skimpy G-strings and elegantly minimalist brassieres
have injected new life into the ailing art of lace-making in Koniaków.

by Anna J. Kutor

Photo courtesy of Koniakow.com

Usually, the efforts of safeguarding and updating
traditional craft skills and processes are celebrated and supported by
communities, except when elderly lace-making ladies turn from making
traditional tablecloths to provocative panties. Or so is the controversial
situation in Koniaków, a traditional lace-making town in southern Poland, where
lace-weaving women are now threading crocheted lingerie instead of heirloom
clothes and ecclesiastical items – and making a pretty penny in the process. Confused?
Let me explain.

Lace making in Koniaków – a 500-year-old town situated on the slopes of the Beskid
Mountains in the highland region of Silesia – traces its roots back to 1864,
when a young woman started teaching the intricate technique to other women in
the village. As the practice of this delicate skill passed on from one
generation of women to the next, the local craftswomen quickly defined their
own distinct decorative style and lace-making became a highly esteemed
trademark of Koniaków. Initially, women only thread crochet patterns to create
ceremonial headdresses for weddings, but the increasing popularity of the craft
led the production of a wide assortment of lacy products, including
tablecloths, pillows, altar ornaments, clerical vestments and other religious
and household decorations. By the middle of the 20th century,
Koniaków’s acclaimed ‘folk art’ had found its way to numerous national and
international displays in addition to the homes of well-known kings, royal
families and high-ranking religious figures. Tablecloths prepared specifically
for the Polish-born Pope John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth II immortalized
Koniaków lace all over the world.

Photo courtesy of Koniakow.com

Being considered a constructive ‘people’s art’,
Koniaków’s lace-making business continued to grow and prosper during the period
of communist rule in Poland and the approved craft institutions where
subsidized by the socialist state. But sales suddenly dropped as Poland was
released from its Soviet yoke and demand for hand-made lace goods had dwindled
to a point where commerce was limited to the occasional folk souvenir. Then
along came the new, revolutionary ‘sex sells’ approach to the age-old craft -
coupled with great word-to-mouth promotion and later Internet marketing -that
inevitably turned Koniaków’s world upside down.

Thee Advent of Lace-Like Lingerie

“In the beginning it was all just a joke, we made thongs because they where faster and easier to construct than other more
traditional lace-made merchandise but they were also quite comfortable and
useful,” says Malgorzata Stanaszek, a local villager with a shrewd business
head on her shoulders. Launching into creative business mode, Stanaszek, a
talented lace-maker now in her early thirties, and her younger sister Teresa
Matuszna took this ‘funny’ breaking- old-modes idea and translated it into real
business. In 2003 the sisters established Koni-Art, a lace lingerie producing
company employing younger, more open-minded women in the village, but it was
the company’s website – launched later in 2004 – that really opened up a
floodgate of possibilities and orders for the lacy products. “We really didn’t
expect it to be so fruitful, but the Internet changed everything. Suddenly
there where orders for colorful crocheted stringi’s [Polish word for thong]
from all corners of the globe”.

Beyond the online representation, interest in the scanty underwear was also fueled by foreign media coverage in
big-name publications such as the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and The
Wall Street Journal as well as Australian, Finnish and Japanese television
spots. As a result, enquiries and orders started pouring in from as far away as
Thailand, Canada and the United Arab Emirates and the ‘stringi’ became a
recognized symbol of modernity in Poland. For Stanaszek and the whole of
Koniaków, the joke-turned-business venture provided new-found recognition and
an incessant source of income.

Photo courtesy of Koniakow.com

“Every single item we sell is made-to-order and very
individual, but we take inspiration for the designs from various Polish fashion
magazines” says Stanaszek.  In just a few years, the company’s product portfolio has gone far beyond the simple white thong to include t-shirts, bar and panty sets, swimsuits and skirts in a range
of shapes, colors and sizes. They even offer tried-and-true tablecloth, table
runners and wedding dresses, although the majority of sales comes from the
lingerie. “Most of our clients are men who want to surprise their girlfriends
or wives with something special and even something seductive, so they appreciate
the attractive, custom-made quality of our products”.

Nowadays, the vast majority of Koniaków’s 5000-strong residents are involved in the
lace-making industry as villagers can make a decent secondary income even on
part-time bases. Once the daytime agricultural tasks are completed, women of
all ages gather in impromptu lace-making circles to hook and loop together
rows, squares and patterns; teach the younger girls the tricks of the trade as
well as to enjoy some snacks and social chit-chat. The number of completed lacy artifact depends on the type of design, product and the level of experience,
but it usually takes about four-five months to finish a large tablecloth and
about a day or two to turn out a thong. And with each ornamented thong – made strictly
from the best Egyptian and Turkish cotton threads - fetching around 70 PLN in
the online store – this spare-time activity is really yielding benefits.

There re, however, a mushrooming number of ‘unusual’ orders that make traditional
lace-lovers giggle. One British woman recently ordered a black t-shirt with a
pattern of her husband’s favorite football team on it while an American lady
requested an XXL-size bright red g-string for her boyfriend. Stanaszek says:
“Usually orders from the US are larger in size, which cost a bit more because
of the material, but there have been a few odd orders like oversized socks and
funny t-shirt prints”.

Photo courtesy of Koniakow.com

Profane Panties

As can be expected, not everyone in the conservative,
deeply religious village of Koniaków is pleased with the racy twist of the time-honored craft. While the image of 80-year-old grannies crocheting piquant
panties certainly makes for attention-grabbing journalism, for the local
community this new business opportunity has raised all kinds of difficult
questions about cultural heritage, morality, entrepreneurship and religious
boundaries. Is hand-stitched lace lingerie a proper symbol of local cultural
heritage? Do the provocative panties encourage sex, consequently making the
creation of said items shameful and sacrilegious? Where should the boundary be
between commercial innovation and keeping a traditional craft processes alive
and relevant?

The controversy began to brew when a number of thong-makers where named and shamed
in church as being an embarrassment to the village. Soon after, officials at
The Association of Folk Artists (Stowarzyszenie
Tworcow Ludowych) sued the innovative craftspeople for humiliating
Koniaków’s well-respected lace-making tradition and refused to grant Koni-Art’s
products the official status of folk art. Older townspeople and representatives
– including Mieczysław
Kamienierz, the director of the Koniaków’s one-room lace museum -, were
also widely outspoken about the issue, saying it’s “indecent and humiliating”
for people to wear underwear that where made from the same lace as sacred altar
cloths.

“At first, we weren’t openly talking about what we do, but it became a hot topic and we decided to
stand up for ourselves and defend our right to make lingerie,” says Stanaszek.
Over time, the commercial success of Koni-Art’s racy underwear led way to an
upsurge in demand for old-fashioned lace product such as doilies, curtains,
gloves and decorative knick-knacks strung by the older generation of
lace-makers.“People understand and accept that our goals is to keep the
tradition going, and we support the church and the town from the profits.” 

In an era where ancient craft skills are eroding at breakneck pace, many coming
dangerously close to extinction, the emergence of Koniaków’s
radical lace lingerie should be seen as a way of ensuring some of Poland’s
unique cultural artistry is preserved for future generations. And if that means
sporting a hand-made black, floral-patterned thong, so be it.