Hungarian Kashkaval and the strategy of Eastern opening

If you haven’t tried it yet, you must taste the Hungarian Kashkaval cheese. This delicacy is fabulous!

Those of you who don’t know, Kashkaval is a yellowish cheese made of cow or sheep milk, and it is popular in Romania and in the Balkan countries. Also, a favorite treat in the Arab world. Growing up in Hungary, I never heard about it, and a couple of years ago I started to buy it in a small food-store here in California where I live.

Hungarian Kashkaval.

Hungarian Kashkaval.

I also tried the Bulgarian and the Romanian variants of the product, but I settled on the Hungarian version; it is the best. Hungarian Kashkaval is a bit salty and reminds me of nuts; it is not a soft cheese, but it can easily be cut, when bent it breaks, and the crumbles are just perfect for a salad.

To my amazement the Hungarian Kashkaval is made in Hajdúböszörmény, a small town close to my birthplace, Debrecen. The company’s name is Wassim Cheese, Hungary, and it has an interesting story.

Riad Naboulsi came to Debrecen from Lebanon to study at the Medical School there. These days he is not a practicing doctor, but he is running his cheese empire. In 1989 he started with a small dairy and today he is one of the largest cheese exporters of the country. Most export goes to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, United Emirates and Iraq.

r. Naboulsi explains the secrets of Hungarian cheese making to Foreign Minister, Mr. Szijjártó (with glasses).

Mr. Naboulsi explains the secrets of Hungarian cheese making to Foreign Minister, Mr. Szijjártó (with glasses).

Since the company fits perfectly with Mr. Orbán’s “Eastern Opening” economic policy, the government supports him with generous breaks and EU funds. Mr. Naboulsi became sort of a poster boy of Mr. Orbán’s economic program.

The Hungarian Kashkaval has an Arab language label, and it arrives to the US from the Middle-East. Since the Orbán-government provides incentives to Arab exports, the cheese travels first to the Middle-East, and then to the United States.

Honestly, I don’t care about the murky “cheese politics” of the Orbán-government, I buy Hungarian Kashkaval because it is excellent. You should try it!

György Lázár

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