I can't imagine my life without Túró Rudi

English language bookstore owner, environmental activist and Hungarian folk dance enthusiast Treehugger Dan talks to us about Budapest.


The Treehugger name was made up by a Canadian friend of mine, and it just stuck. It sounds derogatory in the US, but I'm proud of what I do. Nobody knows my real name, everybody thinks my last name is Treehugger. I even get my mail addressed to Mr. Treehugger.
I came to Hungary 18 years ago as an environmental activist, and, as a typical American, I didn't even know where Hungary was. I opened the Greenpeace Hungary office, I'm a founding member of Humusz, an NGO waste management working group. I also fight against genetically modified foods, do organization management, and exclusively supply several institutions (including the office of President László Sólyom) with fair trade coffee and tea.
I chose Hungary, because I saw opportunities here. My professor at the university was specialized on the region, and had connections with the International House, that was among the first five English language schools in Budapest.
I stayed because of my work, because I didn’t have to earn a lot of money to live well, and because I didn’t have to kill myself to do it.
Women are beautiful, the wine is good, the beer is good, and there’s no túró in America. I can’t imagine my life without a túrós táska or a Túró Rudi. And also the other T-s: táncház, termálfürdők and Traubi soda.
I’m from a small town in Massachusetts, and I never thought I’d be living in a city, especially a capital city. But there’s great life here, and Budapest is pretty laid back. Probably not for my friends, but for me it is.
My friends are mostly Hungarians, I was very much a snob about it. Otherwise I would never have learned the language or anything about Hungarian culture. For the first sixteen years, if I heard an American accent, I ran away. I didn’t want to speak to them. My attitude was that if I wanted to speak to Americans, I would have stayed in America. It’s changed now since I’ve started the shop, because I don’t have a choice.
It took me ten years to run out of excuses for not learning Hungarian. I spoke Hungarian but only for work. I could talk all about waste incinerators and GMOs and that, but I couldn’t say I woke up at six and brushed my teeth. Two or three private lessons a week for two or three years, and the táncház helped as well, because no one speaks English there.
I started to take folk dancing lessons because of a girl. One day she called me saying she’s going to take Hungarian folk dancing lessons, and she needs an available male, and I’m it. I was absolutely terrified, but I said OK. After three or four lessons I got hooked.
No, we never even dated.
Of the shops, Csengery utca is the best, but also has the most overhead. Lázár utca is getting better and better, and I don’t think Sütô utca will survive. In the Lázár utca shop we have room for bigger events, concerts stand-up comedies, book launches, Amnesty International or Greenpeace meetings and things like that.
We started in Vienna a couple of months ago, and it’s slow, but it’s a perfect location on Mariahilfer Strasse, only two minutes walk from the Westbahnhof. We haven’t had enough time for promotion yet.
For me right now it’s a full time hobby, that’s not making me any money.
I would not advise anybody to open up a business in Hungary. It’s not the customers, it’s the bureaucracy, and the taxes. It’s just insane. To tax you on your losses, to charge you an extra tax on your telephone, because you might use it for personal calls, after already having to pay higher prices, because it’s a business line, a hundred percent tax on minimum wage. They’re not promoting business here.
I received a note from the sixth district, saying all my signs have to be in Hungarian. How many English speaking customers do you think will find me?
I don’t think another government would be any better.
The best veggie food in Budapest is in Hunyadi Kisvendéglô on Hunyadi tér. They have eggplants covered in pistachios. Normally in a restaurant you get fried cheese, fried mushrooms, fried cauliflower. I love fried cheese, but I don’t want to have it two or three times a week. Hummus bár on Kertész utca is also excellent.
I could do without Hungarian car drivers. They bother me because I’m on my bike for most of the time. The biggest problem with them is that they park on the bike lane, and cops do absolutely nothing about it. I’ve almost been hit by two idiots in a yellow Twingo. You know, the big bullet-heads with gold chains and everything. When I screamed at them, they started chasing me on the sidewalk.
I discovered two things the other day, that are right next door to me. One of them is a Szikvíz shop, where they produce and sell carbonated water, and two doors down, there is an old, hidden Synagogue, basicly in somebody’s appartment on the first floor. It was built by one of the milkman at the Hunyadi tér market, and it’s still operating.
The weirdest thing, I saw when I moved here, was the public display of affection. In America, twenty years ago, nobody walked on the streets holding hands, let alone, kissing. Here, people are practically making love on escalators. Swallowing each other next to you, when you’re sitting in a restaurant. It’s just slurp-slurp-slurp. Back then, I found it very disturbing, but I got used to it for a while now. Also, sweet tomato soup is weird.
Hungarians are some of the most racist and intolerant people I’ve ever met. They hate the blacks, they hate the Jews, they hate the Arabs. Even if you find somebody who is tolerant enough to like all those people, everyone hates the Gypsies.
It’s so easy to complain. I got so tired of people complaining about Hungary and Hungarians that I started a positive blog. Almost every day or every other day I try to write a positive experience about Hungary.
One more tax would make me leave the country.

SHOPS
Treehugger Dan’s Bookstore & Café
The Csengery utca shop

Csengery utca 48.
District VI, Pest
Open: Mon-Fri: 930–1830
Saturday–Sunday: 1000–1600
Tel: (06-1) 322-0774
The Lázár utca shop
Lázár utca 16.
District VI, Pest
Open: Mon-Fri: 930–1830
Saturday–Sunday: 1000–1600
Tel: (06-1) 269-3843
The Sütô utca shop
Sütô utca 2.
District VI, Pest
Open: Summer every day: 900–2000
Winter every day: 1000–1800
Tel: (06-1) 266-8777
The Vienna shop
Mariahilfer Gürtel 21.
District XV, Vienna
Tel: + 43-699-188-20156
www.treehugger.hu

Zsolt Balla

28.11.2008