Culture of Hungary
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The culture of Hungary is rich and varied, from the twin cities of Buda and Pest on the Danube, to the Great Plain bordering Ukraine. Hungary today came from the Austro-hungarian empire. Hungary has great folk traditions, producing embroideries, pottery, decorated buildings, and carvings. Hungarian music ranges from the rhapsodies of Franz Liszt to Roma and folk music.
Hungary is well known for its water sports, e.g. swimming, canoeing, and water polo (despite its lack of large bodies of water). Many important mathematicians such as János Bolyai, Paul Erdös and John von Neumann were Hungarian. Hungarians are proud of their inventions such as the match, ballpoint pen, electronic railway engine, BASIC programming language and hydrogen bomb.
Hungary has a great literature, with so many poets and writers, although not many are well known abroad due to the limited extent of the Hungarian language. Some noted authors include Sándor Márai and Imre Kertész, who have been gaining acclaim in recent decades. Imre Kertész won Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002.
Hungarian cuisine includes many pork and beef dishes, particularly goulash (a beef soup – gulya means a herd of cows, gulyás is like 'cowboy'), or a stew known in Hungarian as pörkölt. Dishes are often flavoured with paprika. Hungary also produces wine, including tokay from Tokaji.