Dieters, Get Out Of Here

erikah(83)

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As you can see, I'm trying to express myself in an elegant and polite way in the title, instead of saying what I'd jokingly say 🙊. It says in the rules that we have to behave and that's what I'm doing. (Not that I'd use such words on the chain, but it would look really funny and appropriate here.)

Dieters, Get Out Of Here.jpg

We have a lot of events on a weekly, monthly bases, hosted by the municipality and the tendency is to support small businesses, crafters, for several reasons. Industrialization had its time, factories, corporations took over, but that doesn't mean small businesses, small producers has to suffer.

For example, there's a place in the city, where every third Friday of the month these small producers have their market. It's a day totally dedicated to them and the initiative is one to support, because you can have continuity in buying your favorite products. This is not the only such initiative, there are many others as well and there's one in particular that I'd like to write about today.

It's becoming a regular event already as there has been several years before, when the so called "Bacon Fest" has been organized.

The first event was organized in 2011 and since then, it has become a respectable gastro-cultural event that is taking place in several Transylvanian cities and in 2025, there was the organized a first event in Hungary as well.

Their motto is:

Pork is a man's best friend.

Do I agree? Well, it depends on the man as it is certainly not mine. I respect them as any other animals, but ... there's a huge distance between me and them. But regardless, yesterday I went to visit the event and see what these gastro enthusiasts come up with this year.

Visitors are greeted by this happy fellow, right at the entrance. It's a very funny, furry fellow, that is smiling at you and we can call it the mascot of the festival.

The festival starts a few steps further, where you have the chance to see what the organizers and participants (on the selling side) mean.

For those of you not familiar with the culture, these are traditional products both in Romania and Hungary. The flavoring differs from ... should say region to region, but the truth is, the old saying "as many houses, as many customs" applies here too and each producer, seller has their own flavoring. This makes the culinary world so interesting and exciting.

There has been times when people were standing in line for hours, to be able to buy half a kilo of meat or a piece of sausage, but those times are long gone and today the supply exceeds demand, the buying power decreases year by year, so you need to work magic to be able to keep your existing customers and gain new ones. Showing up with an attractive display is one of the tricks you can do and this vendor sure did their homework in this regard.

It's a house made of bacon and sausage. The funny thing is, there's a saying in Hungarian. We say "the fence is not made of sausage" and use it in situations where people try their luck abroad and come home at the end as they could not find a better life in their chosen country. Well, here the fence was made of sausage :)

As it happens at these events, tasting most of the products is not only available, but encouraged as well. At least you know what you're buying.

Even though the event is dedicated to bacon and meat in general, other food and non food products are allowed too.

Like these knives. There's a region in Transylvania where they say guys without a knife in their pocket can't be considered man. Knives can be considered white weapons by law, so carrying one can be risky, but I know people who can hardly resist a nice pocket knife like these.

They say a good meal without a good wine is like eaten by a dog, so here you go.

For me, this is where things start to get interesting. A good cheese can't be beaten by anything, unless it's a matching wine. These craft cheeses were calling my name, as always.

Now you're probably wondering what I bought or what I tasted. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I took a right turn and came home 😂 Why? Because I'm sticking to my weight loss diet and besides, these products may be traditional, may look good, but are unhealthy, especially for those with gallbladder problems, like me. So this was a hands off event, but it was fun.