Despite its vast repertoire, variety, and recipes bursting with flavor, Hungarian cuisine is one of the most underappreciated and unknown European cuisines. There are few Hungarian restaurants outside the country so those who are interested in discovering Hungarian cuisine (and any food lover should be!) must go to Hungary to sample everything firsthand, prepared with real Hungarian ingredients–now by a new generation of talented chefs and winemakers. Despite the fact that last year more foreign tourists visited the city than ever before (36.6 million), there are still no guidebooks written in English focusing on Budapest restaurants and Hungarian food. Carolyn Bánfalvi has written the first culinary guide to Budapest, Food Wine Budapest. This book is a practical guide that contains the vocabulary you’ll need (one obstacle to discovering Hungarian food and wine is the difficult Magyar language); dozens of restaurant, café, and shop reviews; and descriptions of Hungarian dishes and wines. The Hungarian wine industry is young, dynamic, and relatively little known outside of the country, which makes sampling its wines deliciously adventurous. The book will ensure that readers have memorable eating and drinking experiences. Throughout Food Wine Budapest there are also sidebars providing local color and in-depth information.
Carolyn Bánfalvi is a food and travel journalist and author from Washington DC, now based in Budapest, Hungary. She has spent much of the past decade living in Hungary and has authored the first culinary guidebooks to the Budapest dining scene and Hungarian food and drink: "Food Wine Budapest" (Little Bookroom), which was the first in the Little Bookroom's Terroir series and was named a finalist for a 2009 IACP Cookbook Award, and "The Food and Wine Lover's Guide to Hungary" (Park Kiado).
Carolyn's articles have appeared in dozens of publications including Saveur, Gastronomica, Gourmet.com, The Christian Science Monitor, Olive (BBC), The Globe and Mail, The Wall Street Journal, Chow.com, The Washington Times, Delta Inflight, Bthere!, Black Ink and Four Seasons. She holds both journalism and culinary degrees. She has two young daughters, who also love to eat and cook.
Carolyn organizes custom food and wine tours and events in Hungary through her culinary tour company, Taste Hungary.
