Like a cross between a scone and an American biscuit, the pogácsa is a Hungarian staple, commonly made with either cheese or potato and usually consumed with a cup of coffee. It’s a morning ritual I’ve come to relish during my time in Budapest. Yet I’ve never had one like this before, laced, as it is, with wild onion. Despite having devoured a pastry mere minutes before, I take a greedy bite, and then another.
It’s Saturday morning, and the Fény Street Market buzzes with shoppers loading up for the weekend. This glass-roofed hall, located in leafy Buda, on the west side of the Danube, is packed with vendors selling fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and, of course, pogácsa. Mine was a treat from local couple Gábor Merfelsz and Krisztina Arató, who couldn’t resist the pogácsa while shopping for sourdough bread at a bakery on the first floor. “We’ve been so busy cooking, that we didn’t have a chance to eat breakfast,” says Krisztina, as the crumbs flutter to the ground around us.
The sourdough will be part of today’s lunch, and
