The Wooden Spoon is a vegetarian Hungarian cooking and baking blog written by me, Sarah Elek. I am an artist living in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland with my fantastic boyfriend and partner in crime, Misha Deming. I came to Maryland from Tampa, Florida in 2005 to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art. After graduating in 2009 with a BFA in Art History, Printmaking, and Curatorial Studies, I moved from downtown to Mt. Washington and began working for Whole Foods Market. I am currently a member of the Bakery team in the Mt. Washington store, and aspire to be a cake decorator.
When I’m not at work, you can usually find me at home, in my studio, painting or sewing or printing something. If I’m not in my studio, I might be out playing tennis, hiking, doing yoga, swimming, or drinking wine on the front porch.
Misha works for Whole Foods as well (that’s where we met!). He is the Coffee Buyer for the Specialty team. His greatest passion, though, is for all things beer. Along with his friend and brew partner, Erik, he grows hops on a farm and brews delicious beer. He also happens to be an amazing cook, and helps me in more ways than I can count- from running to the store for confectioner’s sugar at the last minute to pouring me a glass of wine when a recipe is stressing me out to teaching me the proper way to cut vegetables.
This blog was inspired by my Grandmother, Margaret Elek. She passed down my Hungarian heritage to me through food, and I grew up eating and loving Hungarian food. It is named “The Wooden Spoon” partially because you really need a wooden spoon to cook Hungarian, and partially because of the running joke in my family over the Hungarian word for wooden spoon- “Fakanal” (pronounced exactly the way your dirty mind is imagining). Grandma would always threaten you with the “Fakanal” if you were bad. Hungarian food preparation tends to be difficult and labor-intensive, so this blog will share all of my trials and tribulations with making old and new recipes as I work towards being as incredible a Hungarian chef as my Grandmother was. I welcome outside tips, tricks, and general knowledge, as making and eating Hungarian food is largely a community experience. Most of the recipes you find here will be my Grandma Elek’s, though I will be sourcing from other Hungarian cookbooks as well as trying to create some new recipes of my own.
Most of my content will be about vegetarian Hungarian food, BUT, I will probably blog about other things as well- cakes, vegetarian products, great restaurants, our lives, and so on and so forth. I talk a lot in real life, so expect me to talk a lot here, too. You can also visit me on my personal blog, sarahanneelek.blogspot.com. There are lots of fun photos on there, including various cakes I’ve made, artwork, nature shots, and more!
All the photos you will see on the blog are either taken shot by me using my Sony Cybershot (hopefully one day I will be able to afford a real camera), my iPhone, or scanned from old family photos. As polaroids don’t really exist any longer, and I don’t have an iphone, I will sometimes use the Poladroid 0.9.6r0 to simulate polaroid photos. I love photography (I majored in it at my arts high school) and try to take the best pictures I can with the equipment I have. I will also be including drawings and paintings of food, all of which will also be done by me. The theme of the blog is the WordPress theme Wu Wei, and I had lots of awesome help with design details from web designer Ryan Fidler.
So, welcome to The Wooden Spoon- thank you for reading! Please let me know if you have any positive thoughts about The Wooden Spoon or anything you would like to contribute.
~Sarah
The Wooden Spoon 
Can’t wait to try cooking something healthy! I also can’t wait to yell, “Fakanal” to your mom or dad when they are “misbehaving” again! What a great way to honor the love and memories you have of your grandmother.
Mendy Whittemore, Temple Terrace, FL
Thanks Mendy! I think you should definitely yell “fakanal” at them lol 😉 also, I don’t know how healthy hungarian food really is- but at least it will be vegetarian! 🙂
Interesting blog. My name is Dan Kozma, and, yes, that is a Magyar name, never changed. If I’m not mistaken, your last name, Elek, is also Magyar and likely never changed or Americanized. All of my grandparents were born in Hungary and I grew up in what was once a thriving Hungarian community in Pittsburgh. My mother and I were members of the First Hungarian Reformed Church in Pittsburgh, my father was a member of the Hungarian Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh and I had other family members who were members of St. Stephens, the Hungarian Catholic church. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many “Hunky” weddings I went to at the Hungarian Club in Hazelwood, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh.
My parents spoke Hungarian, I do not. About my only connection with my Hungarian heritage is with the food, now. Both of my parents have passed. I still make goulash (with beef!), stuffed cabbage, chicken paprikas, pork and sauerkraut and for Christmas the last few years, I’ve made about 12 dozen kifli, with either apricot filling, or walnut and raisin filling. But my recipes are somewhat different than yours.
Mine come from a cookbook that’s probably over 30 years old, compiled from Hungarian-Americans by the William Penn Association, the Hungarian fraternal association, headquartered in Pittsburgh. My mother worked there for many years.
I have to tell you that the idea of a vegetarian Hungarian cookbook seems more than a little odd to me. I grew up with my mother making Hungarian jellied pigs feet, eating stuffed cabbage and “head cheese” and attending church picnics where the men would fry paprikas bacon over open fires, and eat slices of it on rye bread with onions. *smiling*
I do, however, have a wooden spoon! *wink*
Hi Dan!
Thanks for reading the blog, and thanks for sharing your heritage with me! I hope other Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans find my blog and, at the very least, get a kick out of it! I believe Elek is un-americanized, though I read somewhere that in Hungary “Elek” is a common male first name. In Ohio it is a common last name, but where I grew up in Tampa we were the only Eleks around!
I know it’s crazy to think of Hungarian food without meat, but I don’t want being vegetarian to mean I can’t enjoy paprikas or goulash or any of my favorites! So here I am, trying to convert my favorites to meat-free without losing their essence/personality. Hopefully I succeed, even just a little bit. Interestingly, there are many Hungarian recipes that are already vegetarian, and I would like to bring those out into the light as well.
I hope you use your wooden spoon well! 🙂
Again, thanks for reading!
~Sarah
Hi Dan, Hi Sarah!
I am also hungarian. My maiden name is Parvanyik. My family names on either side of my family are Sumegi, Szemesi and Yuhasz!!
Although I cannot speak our language, I also appreciate the cuisine. Dan, I would love it if you could share some of those recipes! Sometimes recipes also get modernized or Americanized (Or in my case Canadianized lol) and a true authentic Hungarian recipe should be respected and shared 🙂
Sarah, my sister is a vegetarian and I have shared this site with her! Thanks for your site! It is great!
Take Care!
Crystal
Hi Crystal!
I am so excited that people like you are finding my blog, and sharing it with others! I am so happy you like my blog, and hope I can continue to bring you and everyone new vegetarian versions of awesome Hungarian recipes! If you (or Dan, or anyone!) have recipes you want to share with me, please email them to me at sae124@gmail.com. I would love others’ input on what they would like to see on the blog, though I will of course make it vegetarian! 🙂
Also, my Grandmother’s maiden name was Szabo, another good Hungarian name 🙂
Thanks again, I hope you keep visiting me here on The Wooden Spoon!
~Sarah
This is getting scary. *g* I once dated a girl, I think her first name was Cathy, but I’m sure her last name was Yuhasz, about 30 years ago here in DC, before I was married.
My father’s sister, my aunt, Kathryn, married Paul Sabo (his family dropped the “z”). Paul is dead, but my aunt Kathryn who is in her 90’s, is still alive and she and my cousin Paul and his wife Bea (not Hungarian) live in the Richmond, Va., area.
I’ll see if I can send you some of the old recipes.
I would love to see those recipes! 🙂
Sarah this is awesome. Hunkies have always had a lot of pride in their heritage – and why not? Hungarians once controlled vast stretches of eastern Europe and successfully avoided being totally co-opted by the Communists when the country fell into the Eastern bloc. Obviously they couldn’t truly control their fates but their pride stopped them from letting their culture be totally absorbed. Actually I think that’s the stubborn pride part of Hungarians that drives the unitiated crazy sometimes. ANYWAY – food is the thread that held our family together…and yes that included blood sausage and your Grandpa Szabo breaking open bones and sucking down the marrow. I’m happy to see other Hungarians checking into my daughter’s Hunky pride and creativity. Love you!
love you too dad! 🙂
Blood sausage! I remember growing up that there used to be some Hungarian butchers in Pittsburgh. We used to get something called Hurka (sp?) in both what was called fresh and blood. Its a sausage made, as I understand it from pork liver and rice. I’m not sure what spices were used, but I’m pretty sure paprika was not used in that sausage. The blood variety had, of course, blood and was a dark brown, the fresh was made the same way, but without the blood.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had any Hurka in decades. Its just not made any more.
I apologize in advance for this carnivore’s digression on a vegetarian blog! *g*
no apology necessary! i don’t mind talking about meat, just eating it. traditions and traditional food are important to talk about and remember!
Hi Sarah,
I just stumbled across your website by mistake. I just finished making Dobos Torta for my husband’s b-day, and my hand is hurting from all the stirring with a wooden spoon. I was curious to see why Hungarians chose Fakanal as their choice for stirring. I didn’t find the information I was looking for, but your blog came up.
I too am Hungarian. I was born in Budapest and my family defected Hungary when I was 6 years old. I speak Hungarian and read a little too. I am passionate about cooking, especially Hungarian desserts. I never thought of Hungarian cuisine as vegetarian. You are right, there are a lot of dishes without meat. My favorites are, szilvas gomboc, palacsinta, makos teszta…all sweet foods. But it is what I grew up with, so definitely, comfort food!
If you need a recipe and cannot find it, let me know, and I may be able to help. My mom has tons of recipes from her parents, and I have a few Hungarian cookbooks.
Keep up the great work. I will revisit your site often!
Hi Anita!
I’m so happy you stumbled across my site and found it enjoyable! I just couldn’t imagine living without Hungarian food when I became a vegetarian, so I had to get creative! I’ve had such incredible responses from other Hungarians and Hungarian descendants, so I feel pretty confident that my Grandmother would have approved of this adventure. 🙂 I have to try some of those recipes you mentioned, if you want you can send them to me at sae124@gmail.com. I like making “reader request” recipes. If there is some meat-y dish you like that you want me to make vegetarian you can tell m that too! I would love if you kept reading and appreciate your comments!
I don’t know why Hungarians use the Fakanal…I definitely have sore arms from beating noodles the other night….maybe I’ll write a post about it! 🙂
Thanks again for reading and sharing!
~Sarah