15th Fisherman´s Soup Cooking Competition

On 8th July, 2023, the Hungarian Self-Governing National Community of the Municipality of Lendava (MSNSOL) organised the traditional Fisherman´s Soup Cooking Competition in Lendava. Due to the Covid 19 restrictions, this event took place in a constrained version in the past few years and was therefore only called Fishermen´s Soup Day.

Visitors started to gather around 1pm in the car park between Hotel Cubis and Restaurant Bella Venezia, just in time as the typical scent of the fishermen´s soup cooking in the pots started to fill the air. Apart from the fishermen´s soup, visitors also had the opportunity to taste traditional dishes of the area such as the fried fish and ´lángos´.

This year, the traditional Fisherman´s Soup Cooking Competition took place simultaneously with the Hungarian Championship in Fisherman´s Soup Cooking of the Carpathian Basin (in Hungarian: Kárpát-medencei Halászléfőző Magyar Bajnokság). The Fisherman´s Soup Cooking Competition had 15 teams competing while in the Hungarian Championship in Fisherman´s Soup Cooking of the Carpathian Basin 20 teams competed to win the prize for the best fishermen´s soup. The winners of the local cooking competition were the team of the Volunteer Fire Brigade from Dolina, and the Hungarian Championship was won by the team Faddi Vitézek from Dunaközép.

Organisers of the event made sure that the event was accompanied by a rich entertaining programme and thought of workshops for children, too.  Apart from craft workshops, pottery and face painting activities, children also had the opportunity to enjoy themselves on the bouncy castle or the carousel.

In the meantime, the stage was taken over by the folk dancers since, at 2.30pm, the 12th International Folk Dance Festival started under the motto “Inspired by Prekmurian Hungarian Radio (MMR)”.

Due to the pleasant weather, the good atmosphere continued long after the award ceremony, which was also due to the concerts of Völgyi-Öcsi and the band Kocsmazaj.