CC BY
7A gricultural
Bulletin of Stavropol Regi
Stavropol Region
= № 1(21)/1 Supplement, 2016
UDK 338.48(439)
Adrienn Nagy, Jozsef Kaposzta, Henrietta Nagy
THE ROLE OF SZAMOS MARZIPAN IN THE HUNGARIAN TOURISM AND GASTRONOMY
In today's busy and rushing world, people tend to forget about the importance of food or confectionery.Sometimes we even forget to have some food. For 21st century people, it is difficult to manage the time to have a cup of coffee with a friend or relative or just to meet somebody in a confectionery. Confectionery products have somehow lost their intimacy. Since traditions in confectionery industry go back to the 1700s, a lot of recipes and traditions have been lost during the wars. The strengths of this sector are the power to link different groups of the society as well as its potential in cultural and economic development. Many think that the wide range of confectionery do not contribute
to tourism at all, however, we have to argue with that statement. Just a few examples from Hungary: if you walk along Andrássy avenue in Budapest, you can find Müvész cukrászda (Confectionery of Artists) where the role of cafés and confectioneries are shown in the Hungarian culture. The Szamos Marzipan Museum in Szentendre can also be mentioned where several tourists go in each season to buy figures made of marzipan. Therefore, it can be stated that this sector contributes to the boost of tourism as well.
Key words: Marzipan, cakes, tourism, gastronomy.
Adrienn Nagy -
department engineer,
Szent Istvan University, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Godollo, Hungary, H-2100 Godollo, 1 Pater Karoly str E-mail: nagy.adrienn@gtk.szie.hu
Jozsef Kaposzta -
Doctor of Science, associate professor, Szent Istvan University,
Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Godollo
Hungary, H-2100 Godollo
E-mail: kaposzta.jozsef@gtk.szie.hu
Henrietta Nagy -
Doctor of Science, associate professor, Szent Istvan University, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Godollo Hungary, H-2100 Godollo E-mail: nagy.henrietta@gtk.szie.hu
Introduction
Almost everybody likes sweets. Who does not like chocolate cake or sponge cake with fresh fruits or lemon ice cream on a hot summer day? Not to mention the marzipan specialties which are not exclusively confectionery products but pieces of arts as well. Since the history and the traditions had important role in the development of the Hungarian confectionery industry, in the first part of our paper such issues are detailed.
The history of sweets
Our ancestors collected roots, fruits, berries in the forests and hunted for animals. Women found out that berries, fruits had different flavor than the other plants in the forests, so they discovered the joy of sweet flavor. They also took the honey of wild bees which lead to the development of honey industry, which is still a significant sector of the Hungarian economy.
In the beginning, honey making and confectionery industry could not live separately, since the sweet flavor of the cakes was provided by honey. Old chronicles mention that some food was also sweetened by honey. Ancient Greeks made bonbons and candies from honey which was a huge development in catering industry. In ancient Greek houses and the Roman Empire, people often had sweets. The joy of sweets was the part of rich, hedonistlifestyle, so it was com-
mon in the rich manor-houses. We can often hear the expression, Lucullus-orgies.The reason is that in the time of Roman patricians there was an emperor, called Lucullus, who was famous for his great feasts with special and various flavours, including sweets. Later, there was a group of servants whose job was to make confectionery, whose owners could even free and release, so it might not be far from the truth that such ex-servants became the firth sellers of confectionery. The Bible also tells us that possessing milk and honey was the privilege of the rich «Canaan with milk and honey». Moreover, the hieroglyphs of Egypt refer to the fact that various fruits were dried in honey. In addition, the tales of the «Arabian nights» also talked about sweet almond, nut with honey and dried plum. The use of sugarcane was also common in the households.
Earlier, it was only the wives and chefs who prepared sweets. It was long time later when it became an individual industry and mass-production. The first step to mass-production was the availability of raw materials in the required quality and quantity that needed wheat fields, orchards, sugarcane plantations. This boosted the agricultural production, since the higher was the demand for the confectionery, the more farmers were employed. It is proved that in the early crop processing, millers baked bread and milk-loaf. After bakers divided into branches, the confectionery sector was created. Fruits have often been used in
48 Quaeery and^ Agr^ulturaL
Journal Bulletin of Stavropol Hegton
dried form to get richer taste. Even in the early 1900s, home-made syrups and jams were used for sweets sold in shops, thus less additives have been used.
The first marzipan was made in theRepublic of Venice. It was named after the patron of Venice, Saint-Marcus. According to the legends, marzipan was against diseases and bad things, thus believers often had marzipan in the time of plague. According to an existing tradition, bread-shape marzipan is given to people on the day of Saint Marcus. The Italian origin of the marzipan is also proved by the fact that when Matthias king married Beatrix from Naples, there was also a chess-board sweet served made of almond and sugar. It is assumed that it was the marzipan made by the confectioners in Naples (Rozsa, 1959).
The short history of the Hungarian confectionery industry
Due to the immigration of confectioners from Switzerland, the Hungarian confectionery industry started to develop in the 19th century. At the beginning, cakes for daily consumption or preserved cakes were not competitive, but it has changed to the second half of the 20th century. Chocolate production requires machinery thus it belongs to a different category than tea desserts or marzipan sweets. Chocolate makers used to sell only chocolate drinks, confectioners only used the chocolate as a raw material. Mr. Emil Gerbeaud made a revolution in the use of chocolate in 1884, when he started to prepare bonbon and dessert from chocolate. Later on, confectioners also started to produce such products.
Significant persons in the Hungarian confectionery industry
Figure 1 - Mr. Jozsef Dobos C. and the Dobos-cake named after him
Source: http://nepszava.com/2011/03/featured/ennivalo-hiressegek.html/attachment/dobos-c-jozsef-torta-hires-etel-sl-d000250a1ab86afa74dd6
The name of Jozsef Dobos C. (Figure 1) might be familiar to a lot of people and many may know
the famous Dobos-cake, which was named after him. Nowadays, he is known as one of the largest founders of confectionery industry of his age, since the confectionery in Budapest that was founded by him when he was 31,offered various cakes including even some extraordinary ones for local consumption or for delivery. He found out the recipe of the Dobos-cake in 1884 which both Hungarian and foreign confectioners starved for. In 1906, when he retired, Mr. Jozsef Dobos C. discovered the secret of the recipe of Dobos-cake. Since then it has been one of the most popular cakes in every confectionery.
Mr. Emil Gerbeaudwas also an important person in the confectionery industry. He was very talented and he learnt the expertise from his father. He gained a lot of experience in confectioneries of Europe e.g. in Germany, France and Great Britain. He moved to Hungary in 1884 and he started to work in the confectionery named after Mr. Henrik Kugler. Mr. Emil Gerbaud brought numerous innovations to the confectionery industry (Dobos, 2009).
Figure 2 - Mr. Emil Gerbeaud
Source: http://konyakmeggy.com/?page_id=27
How the marzipan rose arrived in Hungary?
Szavits Mladen, a Serbian boy came to Hungary for repair, hoping for a better future. He might have inherited the sophisticated creativity and expertise in sweets from his ancestors. At that time he was a trainee in the confectionery of the famous Mr. József Auguszt E.In the early 30s, there was a turning point in his life, because a Danish confectioner joined the company, who was famous for his handicraft and patience for the marzipan roses made of sugar and almond. Szavits Mladen watched carefully the «art of roses» that was made by the Danish confectioner (Figure 3).
Of course, later on the Serbian boy got married and this family link still exists. He developed his business and the «marzipan art» still amazes us with new and creative creatures.
1 gricultural
Bulletin of Stavropol Region
№ 1(21)/1 Supplement, 2016
Figure 3 - Szamos marzipan rose
Forras: http://www.szamosmarcipan.hu/hu/product_groups/ view/207/R%C3%B3zsad%C3%ADsz+hengerben+35g
Szamos Marcipan Ltd., the business
Szamos Marcipan, as a business was created in 1935. The amovementioned Serbian manSza-vits Mladen (Szamos Matyas) established and it is still a for-profit company. There was another phase of development in the 80s, when the first shop was opened in Budapest, which allowed segmentation in larger volume. The power of the family lies in the cooperation and the commitment and loyalty to the profession as well as investing in innovations. In addition, we need to mention the wish to maintain the high quality. Their success and profitability are due to the establishment of their network.
about the marzipan hindered its development and making it more popular. Marzipan was thought to be only an ornament on cakes. This opinion was confuted in the early 1990s and since that time the marzipan became much more popular product. The Szamos Marcipán managed to achieve in a few years that its products have become «luxury» products and spread even in abroad. More and more shops were opened especially in the second half of the 1990s because they recognized that there is high demand. Today it accounts for one-third of the business income. It has significant export activity as well, since its products are sold in Austria, Germany and England as well. However, the crisis in 2009 was a great challenge for the company, the demand stagnated. That small group of the society which was not affected by the crisis, continued to visit the shops and cafés, like earlier. It saved the company, since they were the target group of the business. After 2011, due to the innovations and the changes in customer habits, the market started to recover. New sweets occurred on the shelves, the demand increased, thus the supply needed to be expanded. In addition, the Marzipan Museum was also opened in Szenten-dre, next to the confectionery, where several pieces of arts made of marzipan can attract the tourist and visitors.
Figure 4 - The logo of Szamos Chocolate Workshop
Source: http://www.szamosmarcipan.hu/hu/
The business employs 250 people and 400500 additional workers. It has 150 employees in 25 franchise shops (9 confectioneries and 16 sweet shops).
Szamos Marcipan had 2.1 bn HUF income in 2009, out of which 400 million was from export trade. Since the year of 2004, it has the title of SUPER-BRAND1, and the confectioneries bear the title «Best of Budapest»since 2005. In addition, due to its strong marketing activity, it is increasingly popular among the customers (Szamos, 2009). The Szamos Marcipan Ltd. has enriched our country with its special sweetsfor a long time. It is not a hungaricum though, many people consider it as, since it has long-term traditions in Hungary. It can be traced back to the beginning of the 1900s. However, the public thinking
1 Superbrand title, i.e. top brand award in Hungary. (http:// www.superbrands.hu/, 2014)
Figure 5 - The House of Parliament in the Marzipan Museum
Source: http://www.hungarybudapestguide.com/parliament-best/
The Marzipan Museum is the first museum for marzipan work of arts, displaying beautiful wedding cakes, cartoon figures and other famous people. In the shop, not only marzipan products can be bought, but hungaricum, special Hungarian products e.g. goose liver pasta, red pepper, Unicum, Tokaj aszu and palinka as well. Therefore it is a perfect place to allow the visitors to learn much more about Hungarian culture and cuisine in addition to the marzipan.
Due to its success, the business managed to open a confectionery in Vienna, named as Mathias Szamos Konfiserie at the end of 2014. It was opened in collaboration with the Haderer confectioner-dynasty. Adam Kelenyi, the financial director of the Szamos Marcipan Ltd. said that the market in Budapest
so Quaeez and^ Agr^ulturaL
UU Journal iB.]MlHliio(Slavn|iolllcg)«i
is saturated, so a new shop would decrease the income of the existing ones. That is why a close, easily achievable market with high purchasing power was targeted. Based on their experience, one or two years will be necessary to establish the market. He also emphasized that they adapt to the local needs, i.e. teatime in the afternoon, wide range of hot breakfast in the morning.
The Austrian branch of the Hungarian Tourism shareholding company in collaboration with the newly opened confectioners, promote the Hungarian café culture and Budapest, as a tourism target
REFERENCES
1. Dobos C. Jözsef: Magyar-franczia szakac-skönyv Nelkülözhetetlen kalauz minden haz-tartasban. Budapest : Grafo Könyvkiadö es terjesztö Kft., 2009. 998 P.
2. Grudeva E., Chvalun R., Chepurnaya A. Future specialists' professional communicative competence development through learning foreign language for specific purposes // Young Science, 2014/ T.1 № 5. C. - 70-72
3. Miklos, R. A budapesti cukraszipar fejlödese // Különlenyomat a Tanulmanyok Budapest multjaböl XIII. Köteteböl. Budapest, 1959. PP. 167-207
4. A Szamos tenyleg cukraszdat nyitott Becs-ben [Digital resource]. URL: http://hvg. hu/kkv/20141203_A_Szamos_tenyleg_ cukraszdat_nyitott_Becsb (download time: 03.12.2014).
in Vienna. Cakes are served in Zsolnay-porcelan, which is also a Hungarian specialty. The head of the branch emphasized that Austria is the second most important sending country to Hungary; Austrian tourists annually spent approx. 120 bn HUF in Hungary in the past few years, with a huge sum on tourism. Through the value added tax, they contribute an average daily 80 million HUF to the Hungarian budget. He also added that Austria is the only neighboring country where the number of Hungarian people increases(http://hvg.hu/kkv/20141203_A_Szamos_ tenyleg_cukraszdat_nyitott_Becsb.
5. Ennivalo hiressegek [Digital resource]. URL: http://nepszava.com/2011/03/featured/enni-valo-hiressegek.html/attachment/dobos-c-jozsef-torta-hires-etel-sl-d000250a1ab86a-fa74dd6 (download time: 19.09.2015).
6. Which Parliament is the best? [Digital resource]. URL: http://www.hungarybudapest-guide.com/parliament-best/ (download time: 02.11.2010).
7. KONYAKMEGGY Kezzel Keszitett [Digital resource]. URL: http://konyakmeggy. com/?page_id=27
8. Szamos csokolade muhely [Digital resource]. URL: http://www.szamosmarcipan.hu/hu/
9. Superbrands [Digital resource]. URL: http:// www.superbrands.hu.
