They have paunchy bodies covered in tight curls, like the product of a hog and sheep romance. These were Mangalicas, or Mangalitsas in English. This was not unusual: In Hungary, the word for barbecue, szalonnasütés, means bacon cooking, whereby a piece of bacon is held over an open fire as the fat drips onto an awaiting slice of bread.īut this pork came from pigs unlike any others I knew. On a cold February evening in Budapest a few years ago, I was invited to go to a small festival on the edge of the city's main park.
