Introduction

Throughout my life, I have been fortunate to meet and collaborate with many people, whether as colleagues or students, both in Hungary and around the world.
I have gained a wealth of humorous and sometimes moving experiences, adventures, professional insights, and knowledge.

I am proud that during my 37 years of teaching at the college/university level, I had approximately twenty thousand students.
I gave lectures and practical training to this many students. I also examined just as many, and served as a thesis advisor and opponent for hundreds of dissertations throughout my academic career.
Just like my students, the chefs and teacher colleagues were part of my life for shorter or longer periods—and in this way, they all “got a taste of me.”

It has now been nine years since I retired from active professional life. During this time, the idea matured in me to preserve and share with you, dear readers, the unforgettable moments that made me who I am today…
It would be an honor if you joined me on this journey, as I reflect on my life’s path, trying to recall the essence of the experiences that influenced and shaped my career. Through this, perhaps you’ll all gain a more comprehensive view of what guided me along the way.

The aim of my blog is to provide a (mixed) taste of gastronomy over the past half-century through personal example—without claiming to be exhaustive.
I chose this platform for sharing my experiences because, although it is still new to me, it allows for a wide range of content types, just like the diverse materials I have at my disposal.

The recipe, in this case, is as follows:

The classic narrative—presenting my life and career in chronological order—serves as the framework or the base.
The ingredients are the articles, book excerpts, and educational/research materials I have gathered.
The photos and videos I’ve collected will serve as the seasoning, as illustrations.
And the garnish/decoration comes in the form of recipes brought to life, presented as video blogs: I prepare dishes together with guests who played an important role in my career (former students, competitors, and colleagues).
This is the “culinary journey,” the real joy of cooking and baking! I thank all of them for participating in this passion project so enthusiastically, sacrificing their free time and fitting it into their busy lives!
You can watch the cooking sessions by clicking the links in the relevant chapters.

The spontaneous stories, professional explanations, and interviews with my guests during the cooking sessions are also available via links in each chapter.
The recipes of the dishes we prepare can be found at the end of each blog post.

The location for the cooking sessions was the training kitchen of the Faculty of Commerce, Hospitality and Tourism of Budapest Business University, where my guests could feel at home, as many of them studied or participated in events in the very same kitchen years—or even decades—earlier.
This nostalgic feeling took hold of us every time we filmed.

I would also like to thank Dr. Andrea Lugasi, Dean of the Faculty, for her support of the entire project, Hedvig Hidvégi, Head of the Teaching Cabinet, and her colleagues—especially Brigitta Czibi and Zsuzsa Lőcsei—for their continuous assistance.
The technical management of the recordings was conscientiously handled by András Kékesi and Antal Hajnal.
Even a candid photo clearly shows that I, too, was almost always in command of the cameras :).