The first day we were in Budapest, Marlaina set up a market tour excursion for us through Eat With, a website that connects you with locals for food experiences like tours, cooking classes, home-hosted dinners, and more.
The tour was given by a local woman named Manuela. The name didn't sound very Hungarian and when we inquired found out that it came from her father's ethnic background - he was Cuban. Assuming her mother was Hungarian, we inquired again and found out that no, her mother was German, but that Manuela wound up coming to Hungary 30 years ago when she was 22 and just stayed.
The market, Bosnyák téri Vásárcsarnok, is a local market, not a tourist spot, and the place where Manuela does her own shopping. She took us to the stalls where she buys her own food, told us about the regions the vegetables were grown, and snagged a few samples for us from her favorite vendors. This woman - who gave us a sample of celery root - gave us little baggies of homemade paprika, a spice the Hungarians are famous for.
Manuela bought cheese, bread, meat, tomatoes, wine, and some local cabbage slaw, and took us back to her apartment to make us lunch from the fresh delicacies she just purchased.
She was so knowledgable and so friendly, creating a great first impression of this city that we found to be wonderful. The experience of meeting a local, shopping where they shop, getting recommendations for other places to visit and eat was invaluable.
We had a second Eat With experience planned for the evening, and based on this experience I was now looking forward to it even more!
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2017: New Jersey On Hudson
2016: Behold The Beautiful Brisket
2015: He Really Is A Carpenter
2014: Constant Surveillance
2013: Not Even Good Enough To Make My Top 100 Pictures Of Fall List
2012: Exactly
2011: A Little Grease More Often Is Better
2010: Scenes From Florence
2009: Eddie Palm Sketch Friday
2008: Moabulous
2007: Ready To Draw The Future
2006: Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish.
2005: Beautiful Enough To Lick
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