National Alcohol in Hungary's Reform Era: Wine, Spirits, and the Patriotic Imagination. (November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Maxwell, Alexander
• Is Part Of: Central Europe. Volume 12:Number 2(2014:Nov.)
• Page Start: 117
• Page End: 135
• Publication Date: 2014-11
• Subjects: Hungary, -- Reform Era, -- nationalism, -- alcohol, -- wine; Politics and culture -- Europe, Eastern -- Periodicals; Europe, Eastern -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Europe, Eastern -- History -- Periodicals; Europe, Eastern -- Languages -- Periodicals; Europe, Eastern -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 943.0005
• DOI: 10.1179/1479096314Z.00000000027
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1479-0963

Abstract

Abstract : Hungarian elites saw wine consumption as a matter of national pride. The glorification of wine, and particularly of the luxury vintage Tokaji, reflected the economic interest and social customs of the Hungarian aristocracy, whose members tended to see themselves as the Hungarian nation. When liberal reformers began rationalizing the wine sector for mass production and export in the early nineteenth century, wine patriotism also became merged with the economic nationalism of Hungary's Reform Era. Hungarian wine patriotism involved the denigration of alcoholic beverages other than wine, such as beer and spirits, since Hungarian public opinion associated these other alcoholic beverages with non-Magyar minorities in the Kingdom of Hungary, such as Slovaks, Croats, Germans, or Jews. Hungarian wine patriotism thus also illustrates the rise of Magyar chauvinism, anticipating ethnic conflict in the Kingdom of Hungary.