I have always loved visiting new places, and fortunately my job has been connected with traveling. For the past eight years I have been working on a cruise ship, where part of my duties were to accompany tourists on their visits to famous or less known destinations in Europe. Europe is such a beautiful continent! Each country has its own charm, but there are places which, no matter how many times you have visited them before, every new visit feels like the first time. This is so because you discover not only new locations, but mostly yourself. For me, one of these places is Hungary. Although, for most tourists, Hungary is just a few architectural landmarks in Budapest, a walk along the river Danube, or a glass of fine wine at a local restaurant, Hungary may offer much more for the true seekers.

Központi Vásárcsarnok, the central market in Budapest, which is located next to the "Freedom Bridge" over the river Danube, is popular not only among the tourists, but especially among the locals. Built in 1896, this is the oldest and largest market in Budapest and its architecture is definitely impressive. It was heavily damaged during WW I and WW II, but after its reconstruction in 1994, it now continues to attract visitors. The products offered inside the market are mainly from local farmers, ranging from different types of meat and dairy products, to spices and vegetables.

The "smell of sun", which these vegetables radiate, can be easily sensed long before you reach the stands on which they are offered. Their taste is so real and just like the taste of the vegetables from the Bulgarian country gardens. The first thing I said to myself was: “It smells like Bulgaria. I feel so at home here". Since then, every time I was visiting Budapest, I never missed the chance to buy some fresh sun-scented vegetables from the local farmers. I never asked myself why the food was so delicious and so reminiscent of home, but the feeling remained.

Another place I fell in love with and want to tell you more about is the Museum of Folk Art in Kalocsa, located 140 km south of Budapest - one of the oldest cities and a main religious center in Hungary. Here are displayed different embroidered folk costumes which are very reminiscent of the Bulgarian ones. There are also many dried red peppers, hanging on the walls, which reveals how important this vegetable is for the region. Kalocsa is also famous for its vast fields of paprika plantations, and the annual pepper festival in the autumn gathers numerous visitors from all over Hungary and beyond. Here I felt again the scent which "brought me back” to Bulgaria. This time, I asked myself, how it was possible, that the Hungarians were such good gardeners. How could they have made paprika one of their national symbols? How their fruits and vegetables could be so tasty and delicious? A bit later I found the answer! It was “Bulgaria”, or more precisely, the Bulgarian gardeners, who passed their knowledge back in times to the Hungarians and taught them gardening and vegetable production.

Slowly, but surely, the pieces of the puzzle began to come together. By opening the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I found some answers. In the Óbuda-Békásmegyer district of Budapest, "Bulgarian Fountain" monument was built up on the exact place where in the past there was a Bulgarian garden and Bulgarian gardeners offered their products. But that was not all. I also found out that Bulgarians introduced the eggplant as a crop to Hungary. Because of their contribution to the development of Hungarian agriculture, in 14th district of Budapest, there are streets named "Bulgarian gardener" (Bolgárkertész utca) and "Pepper" (Bors utca). Also, on the street "Eggplant" (Padlizsán utca) another fountain monument represents a Bulgarian gardener with his wife and small child.

Various sources point out that many Bulgarian immigrants settled in Hungary during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Then they began to cultivate municipal lands. In 1799 the Nakov brothers opened the first Bulgarian agricultural school in Hungary. Initially, it started with only 5 students. Here is what Alexi Andonov, whose grandfather was a Bulgarian gardener in Hungary, says in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio:

"At the end of 19th century in Hungary, vegetable production was so weak and underdeveloped. Agriculture was also very dependenton the weather. If there was rain, the harvest was good. When Bulgarian gardeners came, they introduced completely new irrigation technologies. This led to a kind of monopolisation of the Hungarian vegetable market by the Bulgarians. You could say that, after the Second World War, when there was a lot of starvation, the Bulgarians saved Budapest from scarcity. Then, as a recognition from the Hungarian municipality, they received a place for their cultural home, which was built soon after. Generally speaking, the Bulgarians gave Hungary a lot."

On April 18, 2016, Suzanne Korosi's film Fertile Citieswas screened at the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Sofia. Part of the film shows the life of the Bulgarian gardeners, living in Hungary during the past 150 years. Until the early 1980s, the vegetables they grew were free from chemical pesticides.

And so,today, more and more people are looking back to those times and wondering how they can also grow clean food without pesticides. How can they leave behind a better world! The answer is right before our eyes - learning from the experience of our ancestors - the old Bulgarian gardeners who taught the world of pure agriculture!

Author: Petar Petrov, Manager “Educational Activities and Events”, Botanica Life Foundation

Sources:

Personal experience and impressions during over 70 visits to Hungary.

https://www.mfa.bg/embassies/hungary/news/29918/,

accessed on 26.01.2022.

Откриване и освещаване на Българска чешма в Обуда

https://bnr.bg/horizont/post/101134405/v-ungaria-uvajavat-balgarite /,

accessed on 26.01.2022.

Българите в Унгария се чувстват уважавани и се гордеят с произхода си

https://agrozona.bg/balgarskite-gradini-venets-okolo-budapeshta-2/,

accessed on 26.01.2022.

Българските градини – венец около Будапеща

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