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THE NC HUNGARIAN CLUB In 2007, for example, at the International State Fair that I also attended, the Hungarian Club in North Carolina sold traditional Hungarian food such as stuffed cabbage, beef and chicken paprika, and different types of desserts, such as krémes, rigó jancsi, and mézeskalács. At the cultural stand, there were pictures of Budapest, the spas in Hajdúszoboszló, and Gyula, traditional embroideries, and a short country profile of Hungary. On this occasion, some club members — especially the older first-generational ones — wore traditional Hungarian folk costumes. Some women at the cultural stand wore their ball dresses, while at the culinary stand, sellers were wearing Hungarian embroidered shirts or traditional costumes form Transylvania. For this occasion, club members usually cook together, and the money they raise, goes to the club. For the usual club meetings, members also prepare some food at home, usually some special Hungarian dishes that they place on one table. Food is an important source of the club’s discourse, members often comment on the food and exchange recipes. It reinforces the notion that alike in other HungarianAmerican organizations, in the Hungarian club in North Carolina, Hungarian food serves as the widest platform for embodying authentic Hungarian culture”®, At some meetings, club members commemorate the Hungarian historical or traditional holidays such as the anniversary of the 1956 Revolution, the Hungarian Fight for Freedom in 1848, Easter, Christmas, etc., but mostly the primary function of these social gatherings is to ensure members a regular basis for meeting other Hungarians and speaking Hungarian. The use of Hungarian is prevalent in the club. The conversations are dominantly in Hungarian, though the children tend to speak among each other and respond to their parents in English. Adopting Papp’s typology of American-Hungarian organizations, the Hungarian club in North Carolina can be defined as an ethnically rather closed local organization with the primary interest of community preservation evolving around cultural events, traditions supposed to be authentically Hungarian”. In the Hungarian club of North Carolina, therefore, the efforts to maintain the Hungarian language through cherishing Hungarian traditions, or conversely, maintaining the Hungarian cultural heritage through the means of speaking Hungarian have become intertwined and mutually compliment one another. 266 Papp, Beszédből világ, 171 267 Papp, Beszédből világ, 435— 434 * 111 +
