How Shabbat Cholent Became a Secular Hungarian Favorite

Cholent is just one variation of the one-pot dish Jews all over the world consume on the weekly holiday of Sabbath. Hence, it is considered a culinary signifier of Ashkenazi Jewish identity. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, cholent became incorporated into Hungarian cuisine; in the eyes of Christian Hungarians, it ceased to be a Jewish dish. This chapter highlights that in modern Hungary, shared ingredients and cooking techniques shaped the cuisines of the Jewish minority and the Christian majority equally. Subsequently, a shared culinary repertoire evolved, exemplified by cholent. The culinary dynamic that produced the “Hungarian cholent” mirrors the broader process of Jewish integration in modern Hungary.