50 Delicacies on Earth - A Multicultural Recipe Book of the University of Pécs

Since when have you been in contact with international students?

I have been working at the Medical School since 2002; first, I have been teaching English for Medical Purposes to Hungarian students, later I have started to teach Hungarian for Medical Purposes at the English programme. Everything started in my Hungarian classes, because I did not only want to teach them the language, but also introduce Hungarian culture and cuisine. I loved the most, when I had the opportunity to teach them for 4 semesters, preparing them for the Hungarian exam, which is a prerequisite of studying further in the third year. Then in 2014, I took over the management of the EGSC office, and since then I have been in contact with international students on an everyday basis, because the main duty of my office is to represent the students’ interests.

Have you always known that you are going to work in a multicultural environment?

I studied English and German at the Faculty of Humanities, I learned about these cultures in different lectures and seminars, I travelled a lot and I was open to other cultures as well. I am very glad that the Medical School is paying special attention to observing these differences and informing the professors about them, because the knowledge and acceptance of cultural diversity are prerequisites of effective communication with the students and of their teaching.

Do you think the students cook often?

I know that many of them cook regularly, because I worked in an office for two years, which was very near to the microwave ovens installed for students, and I have first-hand experience of the wonderful fragrances wafting from their meals. Many students bring their lunch, which they prepare in advance, usually the night before. Last year, we had a student from Nigeria, who once told me, what a normal weekend looks like for them. She cooks from Saturday morning until Sunday evening, preparing meals for the whole coming week, freezing them in smaller portions. There are other students, however, who are recognized by their voices by food delivery companies, because they order quite often.

Where does the idea for this international cookbook come from?

The idea and the initiative comes from me, however, the source of inspiration was provided by a British student, Rebecca Connearn, who came into my office one day before her graduation in July 2018 with the sweetest present. During her years in Pécs, she prepared the dishes served at the British table at the International Evening. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to taste them, because I was busy with organizational tasks all the time. Therefore, she made a collection of recipes for me, which I cherish and keep together with the recipes I received from other students.

I brought this idea to the attention of the rector and the dean; both of them welcomed the initiative and decided to send the call for application to every international student of the university, this way involving the whole international community. With the colleagues of the Centre for Internationalization and Connections, we form a good team and work together for the success of this project titled A Multicultural Recipe Book. The title of the book will be “50 Delicacies on Earth”based on a Chinese recipe“Three Delicacies on Earth”, and it includes 50 recipes, from 50 nationalities, one of them being Hungarian. We plan to publish it in March, in English and in Hungarian, distributed countrywide. We are going to announce it at the opening event of the International Spring, the International Evening.

Do all recipes in the book come from students?

Yes, students sent all the recipes, ranging from Algeria to Vietnam. We paid special attention to the new student ambassador programme of the University: recipes from four student ambassadors are included in the book: from the Cayman Islands, Cameroon, Jordan and Nigeria.

What is this collection going to look like? Do you prepare every dish?

The chef of the project, Ákos Lokodi is going to cook every recipe with the student who sent it. The book is going to be an exclusive, large format edition, which we hope it will have a touch of uniqueness. We allotted four pages for each recipe, illustrated with the beautiful photos of Lajos Kalmár. For those dishes that go well with wine, we prepare a wine suggestion: the Research Institute Viticulture and Enology of the university together with the Pécsi Borozó recommend a suitable wine produced in the Pannon region for each dish. It is a very exciting task to pair international cuisine with the high-quality local wine culture. Another partner in this project is the Zsolnay Porcelain Manufacture, we will serve some of the dishes on Zsolnay plates.

Do you need special, exotic ingredients? Are they available in Hungary?

We asked the students to preferably send recipes, for which you can purchase the ingredients in Pécs as well. Many of the students come from the shore of the ocean, seas and from islands, and they usually miss the access to those ingredients that are easily available there. We received many fish recipes, and fortunately, we have access to many kinds of fish and shrimp, as well as typical ingredients and spices of African and Asian cuisine. We acquire the ingredients for the dishes introduced in the book from our sponsors: the Choy shop in Nagy Jenő Street and Ízes Magyar Csemege.

What is the aim of this recipe collection?

Our aim is to introduce the diversity of our students, of the many countries they are coming from (only 50 fit in this edition) and give a glimpse of what their cuisine is like. We all like to eat and to try new flavours and the dishes connect us. Eating is much more than taking in calories, it is a social experience. Among others, this is also a reason for us to be looking forward to the completion of the new building of the Medical School, which will also have a cafeteria.

What does it feel like to be involved in the realization process?

Exciting! Very exciting! I hope everything goes well and the project will be successful.

The calendar introducing the folk wear of international students has also been a very interesting idea! Are you planning to publish it this year as well?

In the past couple of years I got to know the work of several civil organizations, this is how I got in contact with the Pécs Normandia Lions Club. In cooperation with Edina Münster, we created a multicultural calendar with the help of 12 students, the proceeds of which we offered to the Club in order to help to cover the expenses of the parent accommodation, which they provide for parents, whose child is in hospital with a chronic illness. Although our aim was noble, we arrived at the conclusion not to continue with the calendar, however, there is another idea that we plan to continue from 2018: we will host a show at the International Evening introducing the traditional national costumes of participants.

Mariann TÓTH