Who to blame for bryndzové halušky as the national meal

The ancestors of the Slovaks' wiped their mouths with the tablecloth, pigeons flying out of the pâtés served on tables. It was a famous Czech writer who romanticised “the meal of the poor”.

Food of ancestors was by no means dull; llustrative photo of Pieter Claesz's painting from 1635.Food of ancestors was by no means dull; llustrative photo of Pieter Claesz's painting from 1635. (Source: From the book "Everything about a Table" by Z. Mintalová-Zuberová; )

The diet of the inhabitants living on the territory of current Slovakia was by no means simple or monotonous, expert on culinary history, Zora Mintalová-Zubercová, said for the Sme daily.

In the 18th century, it was mainly top chefs who were the celebrities here. All the important people tried to win them over. The chef from Blatnica Castle was even kidnapped in 1721, and taken to Lower Hungary.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

“Count Révai track him down and brought him back,” says the ethnologist, historian and museologist Zora Mintalová-Zubercová, specialising in the culinary history of central Europe.

SkryťTurn off ads

Feasts were magnificent occasions as early as the 14th century when only men were allowed to attend them, with almost no exceptions. The tables in the knight’s halls were solid, to survive boisterous celebrations.

Later, tablecloths became an important part of dining. If the court master of ceremonies cut someone’s tablecloth, he had a huge problem: “This was equal to declaring war, animosity, something like throwing one’s glove to provoke a duel – a ritual used only several centuries later,” Mintalová-Zubercová describes.

Precious tablecloths with woven decorations were imported from Italy. They were also made here, for example in Košice, Bardejov and Bratislava. “When daughters of the Hungarian palatine Thurzo were married, one received a hundred, and the other one hundred eighty tablecloths,” the ethnologst explains.

SkryťTurn off ads

Tablecloth used for wiping

The first tool for eating was a knife, not a spoon or fork, and every man carried one on himself at all times. This does not mean diners were too clean.

“They were able to put food in their mouths when skewered on a knife but they still made themselves messy, with greasy fingers and chins. After the meal they wiped their hands on tablecloths, jackets or trousers,” Mintalová-Zubercová says.

Diners used to throw bones – and everything they did not like – under the table for hound dogs.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Stock image.

Twice as many Ukrainians work in Slovakia now than before the Russian invasion.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad