Though the vast majority of the Balkans were under ottoman rule at one point, and despite significant culinary interaction (cevapi and such), only Hungarian cuisine is known to stain so many notable dishes bright red with paprika, which is well known to be an Ottoman import. Why did Hungary specifically adopt this spice to such an overwhelming degree while other former Ottoman holdings did so in a much less overwhelming and characteristic way? Is there any more to it than what I assume to be ideal farmland for paprika in the alföld?
- pulverized paprika was a hungarian invention, as well as a method to scale the production with machinery during the industrial revolution.
- Originally only hot paprika variants existed. A local mild paprika variant was selected/breeded. Again with another invention that separated the hot parts making the product even milder.
So from around 1860 a mild fine grain pulverized paprika was a hungarian monopoly, nowhere else could it be produced at that time. The production was scaled up to produce enough for the whole world. What Tequila is for Mexico, was paprika for Hungary.
At the same time Hungary as a nation was struggling to build its national identity and independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
A successful national product available in abundance, it became an integral part of the hungarian cuisine.