The Four-leaf Clover

Zoltán Halász (1914-2007) Hungarian newspaperman, writer, cultural historian. He finished Pázmány Péter University of Law in 1938. He started his career as a bank-clerk but soon became a journalist at Magyar Hírlap. During World War II he was called upon forced labor several times. From 1945 he became a member of MTI—Hungarian Telegraphic News Agency and a correspondent of the Hungarian Radio from Rome. Between 1950 and 1955 he lost his job and made a living as a translator. In 1955 he became an editor at Corvina Publishers and later at The New Hungarian Quarterly—a periodical published in English. From here he retired at the age of 75 but gave up neither writing nor editing. From 1993 he edited Encyclopædia Britannica Hungarica than became co-worker of Budapest Sun. Besides his novels he wrote educational non-fiction, travel-books, and made photo albums of famous touristic places of Budapest and Hungary. He was a „local historian” of Gundel Restaurant and also wrote several cook-books. 


A charming man interested in everything, a nice guy always ready for fun, he was widely experienced travelling all over the world. He is a marvelous story-teller, it is by no accident that Péter Esterházy wrote of him: „There are some who are good at literature, others at history, some are well educated, at home in gastronomy, travel… Zoltán Halász is all these together elegantly, objectively and always interestingly: just telling, telling stories. Whoever is writing about food, restaurants, tastes etc. is all his apprentice.” 


This book is the story of his life on a plate… have some, you’ll enjoy it.