Fourteenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Did the influence of the social-political interactions of a nation (Hungary) through the interchanges of an empire (Austro-Hungarian) leave a profound/indelible significance on the regional culinary linguistic heritage in the territorial identity of Western Transdanubia? It has been shown that food language is a means of communication, identity and expression defined into specific categories and foodways are slow to change because they belong to a culinary culture stratum, formed early in life, in one’s family origin and which are last to fade. Some of the Hungarian linguistic dialects formed during the settlements of 18th century Germans ( including Bavarian-Austrian) into the Trans-Danubian region and the resettlements following WWII are symbols of a common past because they have been passed by word of mouth, in the kitchen passed from mother to daughter using many loanwords borrowed from German dialects and other minority languages. Synopsizing a present-day awareness and moments of personal insight through a journey of gastronomic memories will be able to show that the names of foods, how they were prepared and eaten as well as the units of measure, tools and equipment, ingredients, did bridge a gap between our ancestors and ourselves of Hungarian descent to revive a culinary culture and heritage through food, and were determinative in the survival of this culinary linguistic identity.