NORTHERN HUNGARY
This area is called Paloc, and extends from the Danube River to the Soviet border. It is as famed for its many local crafts and embroideries as for the wine called hull’s blood or Egri Bikaver. Here in small villages, life has continued with little change almost since medieval times.
Baking foods in ashes, collecting the eggs of wild birds, and even grinding flour continue unchanged. Fish caught locally is still dried, salted, or smoked for use during the winter, and cheeses are dried and smoked in sausage shapes and hung from cottage rafters. The planting and harvesting of both wheat and grapes to make wine are intertwined into many local and colorful festivals which go back to ancient times.