The Gulyás He Never Taught Me

Although one Australian contributor never got to know their Opa (grandfather), they continue to preserve his memory through a family gulyás recipe.

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Gulyás is a traditional Hungarian meat-and-vegetable dish seasoned with paprika, commonly known in English as goulash. The contributor notes that gulyás varies from family to family, with each adding their own twist to the classic meal. The contributor’s opa began preparing gulyás after fleeing from Hungary to Australia during World War II. At the same time, the contributor’s oma (grandmother) fled from Holland to Australia. Coincidentally, the two landed at the same port and fell in love. There, he built a new life while continuing to prepare the Hungarian dishes he had grown up with. Out of the meals he cooked for his children, gulyás was a family favorite.

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Like other Hungarian families, the contributor’s opa adapted traditional gulyás. He made two variations of gulyás: one with a sour cream-based sauce and one with sauerkraut, called Sezelky Gulyás.

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Although the contributor grew up familiar with the family gulyás recipe, he never got to know his Opa personally, who died when the contributor was a baby. Although the contributor has no memory of the man who created the longstanding family favorite recipe, the food tradition continued.

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30 years later, the contributor continues to connect with their Opa through gulyás, carrying the dish forward for generations and now preparing it for their own family.

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For this family, gulyás is more than a familiar meal. The recipe has traveled far from its Hungarian origins, first prepared by a grandfather who left his homeland during wartime, and now cooked by a grandchild who never had the chance to learn from him directly. Gulyás preserves Hungarian heritage and maintains a connection even without shared memories.