09 - Zsoka Fekete
27 minutes reading
Fall, 2020. I am in the United States. I live here. My husband is American. (Omg, I am married!) We have a house, our own house, nice and big – the only thing bigger is our yard. It takes five hours for me to maintain it with a push mower, the only type we have at the time. Super. How happy the pups will be when we get them over here with us from Hungary. And now what…?
One rule of my current status is that I can’t work. I could drive myself to places, that is allowed, but there is no vehicle for me to drive yet. My husband uses our Silverado to commute to work. What I can do is shop online, if I really want, and when I do, hubs picks up the goods and delivers them home. The house is clean, multiple variants of meals are prepared. I have done my daily walk too. The season is way too late for gardening – maybe next year. So what is left there for me to do…? I want to hear a little Hungarian… so I take a look at what is available on TV.
I have just figured out how to transfer a few Hungarian TV channels on the biiig TV screen. I am an avid fan of the national MasterChef shows [Konyhafonok], Akos Sarkozi is my hero. Even my husband likes the show, we watch it together in the evenings when his shift allows. He is curious enough not to care about the language, he just enjoys seeing all the food and the energy of the competition. When he is interested in any detail, he asks me. But… now I want something different. Something… more Hungarian.
That is how I bump into the mini-series Wonderful Countryside [Csodas videk]. I am glued to the couch. I love shows like this, I always have, even in Hungary – but here, in the middle of the US, it is vital. I binge the full show, 10 episodes of 25 minutes each. A huge favorite is the goat farmer couple, they are young and passionate. I am interested in raising goats (and rabbits and ducks and geese and what not) myself, so I want to talk to them and get the inside-scoop on raising goats and making goat cheese. I call the guy a few days later and he says that they only teach cheese making today, no goat breeding. In fact his spouse is in Spain on some long-term study trip.
But the Mangalitsa girl. She is something else. She takes it all for me. Watching her I am in awe.
Four years have passed and she has popped into my mind from time to time. I have followed her social media, I have watched her progress. I like her being so goal-oriented, her talent, her results. No wonder that as the creator of Attagirl! I am certain about wanting to dedicate a month to her. I contact her – and she says yes. And I could not be happier.
I hope you too, will like her the way I do after reading her story. Lots of studies, sacrifices, and hard work have made her the leading Mangalitsa-figure of Hungary. Zsoka Fekete – a super pretty, super friendly lady with a huge heart and a wise approach to life despite her young age.
Created with love – read with delight.
Hello, Zsoka. I am so glad to welcome you here at Attagirl!
Same here, Kami. It is really exciting for me, thank you.
Let’s dive into it, shall we. Tell me about this Zsoka girl, who she was as a little girl, where she started from and what lead she followed.
Okay. I was born into farming and countryside life, my parents worked in agriculture. I sucked this lifestyle in with my first breath. It was natural, the norm for me. Even my grandparents were farmers and I would spend a lot of time with them. As long as I could remember I have loved animals.
In the time of privatization in Hungary my parents started their own business. They created a seed potato business, in which work was directed by my dad and accounting was covered by my mom. I started to work with rabbits at the age of 9, and by the time I turned 10, I already had 120 bunnies to decide the fate of. I kept my income in the bank after procuring feed and supplies for the operation. Then poultry joined my palette and I got my own incubator. At 11 I would use my own money to buy things I wanted, like a mountain bike – or a saddle. Because horseback riding had become my everything.
This kind of farming life was not child’s play though. I started the day at 5:30 a.m. before school, and my first thing was to supply the animals. Then I had breakfast at 7 and left for school at 7:30. After school I went home to supply the animals again, feeding, cleaning, whatever needed to be done was done – after my extracurricular activities, of course, such as music and painting or basketball and handball. Every single weekday.
Duracell-bunny, I bet you were never bored.
I was never bored and I loved everything I did. Rabbits, poultry, studying, arts and sports – my true love, however, was riding. Through my granddad I could ride a lot. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ place in the summers, whenever I could, surrounded by nature and horses. That’s where I felt in my element. Work, though, did not stop for the summer – that’s where our money came from. I hoed, weeded, did anything and everything the potato fields required. In time we became organic vegetable producers while the potato business remained conventional.
Did you have any idea about what you wanted to do for work when growing up? Usually there are two types of children coming from such hardcore agricultural background: the one that dreams of living in the city not having to see a spade or hoe ever again, and the one that could not imagine their life in any other way, without land and livestock. Which type were you?
Definitely the second, even if with a little detour. Veterinarians for me were gods. In my world, vets were put on a pedestal by farmers. And they were my idols, as a child I wanted to become one myself. So, I stepped on that path.
How?
I was admitted by the Agricultural Secondary School in Pallag, and I went for agriculture as well as horse breeding specializations. I could ride here for free, in exchange I volunteered to maintain horses, clean stalls, and build courses for show jumping competitions. And I was soooo proud of myself! Besides, I entered every single study competition I could. One of my contest essays written about Kincsem [a world-famous Hungarian racehorse winning all her races] and horse racing got a special award. And another one I wrote about organic farming won me the top award for the contest, which was beyond comprehension. I was the best. Me, the horse-loving, vet-wannabe little girl who I considered myself to be. Oh my god, how could they choose me?
It's amazing how many things you had the energy and patience for.
And that was not all. I had one more big project. At 15 my dad brought home a German Shepherd for me. The only thing my poultry yard was missing, right? It was a mischievous dog, extremely undisciplined. It caused so much damage that my parents wanted to get rid of him, but I said no, that I’d discipline him myself. And I did. I took him for training classes, spent a lot of time with him which was productive. German Shepherds are highly intelligent and he learned fast and with pleasure. And then he got stolen…
Oh, I was not expecting that ending. I am so sorry.
It was bad, I missed him badly, but there was nothing I could do. Life had to go on. School and the usual activities, and even more work in the summers. In the mornings I worked on poultry and cattle farms and at riding schools. I wanted to show everyone how well I was getting along on my own. By lunchtime I’d be home cooking lunch, which I enjoyed just as much as anything else I did, and the family ate together.
After the meal I’d have a short nap - and then leave for the potato lands to dig and hoe a little. Until my junior year I was preparing to become a vet, but after winning that study contest things shifted in me. Upon finishing secondary school, I landed in Budapest, to study for being a food engineer. In the meantime, I had also applied for a farming apprentice opportunity, which I was granted even though my English was lacking in every other area than the language of riding. So, I put my not-even-started-yet university studies on hold as I found myself in England working for this super-hip elite racing club.
Sounds exciting, like heaven for someone who loves horses!
Everything about the experience was unbelievable, the professionalism I witnessed there, I could not help but wonder how I got there, how it was me they chose to go there.
Riding there was tough, I was practicing with professionals from India. 12 hours a day, riding, and I was the only girl. I only had the chance to call home once a week, and I enjoyed this kind of freedom and self-reliance. As it was a job, I got paid, and a pretty good money. However, all the lifting, carrying, and hardcore riding took a toll on my back, resulting in chronic pain that had no time to heal and for that reason I had to say goodbye to that club.
I transferred to another club to work with a Hungarian girl and that place was more laid-back, and I had the chance to properly heal. I spent half a year there before I started my university studies back in Budapest – but I returned in the summers. To speed up the story a little bit, I spent some time in the Netherlands through Erasmus and eventually I finished my university studies with two degrees, food engineering and professional translating in the food industry.
And then I hit a plateau.
You did not know what to do next? You got two great degrees and had no clue where to continue?
Exactly. On the one hand I had the pressure to go home and join my parents’ business. Potato, veggies, hoe, farmers’ market. I could choose that any time, I wanted to look around first. See more of what was out in the wider world. I enjoyed studying, I wanted to develop myself a little more. So I started to look into farming apprenticeship programs again and I landed in Denmark, on the organic farm of the Folk High School. They advertised a promising cooking course that enticed me.
Because Zsoka still likes cooking.
Yup. Now this was a completely enchanted world not even remotely reminding of a college, or any teaching organization. You had all kinds of arts here: painting, ceramics, music. It was quite a free-spirited school that taught you complete self-reliance. And then there came the horses, which somehow always happen to find me. Two horses were brought on the vast campus site that needed to be fed, cleaned, and ridden. What can I say, I was happy to volunteer for the work! I spent five months in this dream world.
Upon arrival back to Budapest, though, I still did not wish to farm full time, so I started studying again. My training this time was in equestrian culture at the Hungarian University of Sports Science. I worked at Diageo in the daytime. On the weekends, of course, I helped my parents in their business. Which, in the meantime, was extended with a farmhouse, an old dream of my mom’s, which served as the new location for trainings, seminars, shows, and other events. I used to travel so much those days. My home base was Budapest and I was religiously driving back to my hometown, Hajduboszormeny. What was surprising, though, was the schedule of my weekdays. Like I did not need to wake up early. There were no animals to feed or stalls to clean. What a way to live! I was amazed at 26.
New life, huh?
Seemed pretty much so, yet no. In 2010 I entered the Young Farmer contest in which I marked livestock breeding, too, with the thought that the by-products of vegetable farming would form a great base for animal feed. In 2012 a super opportunity came from the National Society of Mangalitsa Breeders. My parents were planning to get a small Mangalitsa stock of 10 sows and a hog for me to enter a Young Farmer Contest. The society offered a stock of 20 sows for sale in Vas County due to a farmer’s retirement. My mom called me with the news – alright, time to hop in the car and go home.
Out of blind luck my parents had been able to purchase a hog farming facility around that time equipped to some level. So, we went to pick up the sows and deliver them to this new facility. Within a week all 20 of them farrowed. Man, all of a sudden, we were facing a stock of 50 animals out of basically nothing a week before. We were just standing there thinking, now what. What have we undertaken?
There is this wisdom that no challenge is sent in our path that we are unable to overcome…
Back in the day it was pretty hard to believe, but my story of course has proven me wrong. This setup meant much more than driving home on Friday nights and driving back on Monday mornings. There was all the newness, the excitement, and the doubts, the situation could not be managed from Budapest. So, after a few months I said goodbye to the capital, and Diageo, and settled back into my hometown.
All of a sudden it was not my parents’ business that I worked for anymore, it was my very own, me being a young farmer. Their help, however, was essential in starting. With my mom’s proposal writing practice we were able to extend our facility. We designed many extensions of the facility based on the expertise of my grandad. My dad’s vegetable farming knowledge was extremely helpful in feeding the Mangalitsas. And my grandma’s product specifications and her farmers’ marketing experience for our sales was much needed. It was teamwork, a real family activity. It looked really promising.
Looking at it today I am confident to say it did work. Tell me a little about your life today.
It may not be surprising if I say it has not been any less busy than it was when I was a child. Currently I work with 250-300 animals. Raising, breeding, processing, sales – all are my duties, or at least it is my responsibility to ensure the smooth operation of them - obviously, I cannot be everywhere at the same time. Getting up early is an organic part of my life even today, those few months in Budapest were the only extraordinary ones when it was not necessary.
Besides selling at farmers’ markets I have a lot of requests for attending festivals, fairs, various kinds of events, where I show my goods which often are awarded with some kind of a title. That kind of feedback allows me to understand that what I do is good, and my products are of high quality indeed. It shows there is real demand for them and that my clients are grateful for me to satisfy that demand.
We tend to live our days robotically, just do what we do, and then there comes an invitation to an event or a nomination or the winning of an award and that is when I realize that my passion holds value and wins the highest rewards. That is when the cleaver stops in my hand for a second and my heart bursts with happiness. My childhood experience, waking up early, the endless work, the endless studies, looking around in the world were all so worth it – pouring all that knowledge now into my Mangalitsa Farm together with the love inside me the end result is something that people just love. What else is there to do it all for?
So finally, everything has jumped to place in your head and heart.
Yes. And no. I have always been searching, I have not settled down yet for good, I have always been brainstorming and wondering about the future. I do not plan major, organic changes. But I do always plan changes, modifications. That is how business works for others, too, I guess. Always seeking ways to do it better, to serve more, to give something new. That is how it is with me for sure.
You want to share some details about tis, maybe?
I have been working on a big project recently, but I can’t say too much about it just yet, out of superstition as well as keeping it a secret for business reasons. If… when it happens, it will be cool, I can promise that. Well, okay, let’s just say that I have this big dream of designing new premium products which I’d love to market outside Hungary, too. That is what keeps me busy these days, it is a very exciting and interesting challenge.
From the bottom of my heart I hope you can make that dream happen! Obviously, a new project always requires focused attention and involves stress. We have found out so much about your crazy level of energy, your non-stop activity, how do you stay healthy and not go nuts?
It is good stress, but still stress. We do need to pay attention to that in ourselves, no doubt. I have specifically started to feel this in recent years. When we are young, we just go and do it. If we are basically healthy and strong, it is hard to imagine we can be defeated.
Of course, if one moves 50-kg bales in a super riding club, like I was in England, then back pain is unavoidable, and horseback riding can be dangerous in itself. I myself fell off the horse a few times so bad that I was not sure I’d ever be able to move again. After months of hospitalization I did get up and back on that horse eventually. Today I would not be able to do that; saying this now I am injured after lifting totes stuffed with Mangalitsa meat like half a year ago and my hips got cracked. As a result of which my legs are… off. I tried to have a rest in the summer, I did a lot of exercising, and they did improve some but I am far from where I used to be. And of course it is worrisome. Time will not spare me either, I can’t afford to not pay attention and be a lot more careful.
During this enforced rest I had the chance to think a lot. That was the first time it occurred to me what if I wasn’t able to continue. My parents are old now, they can’t really help anymore. My grandparents died a time ago which in itself is painful, but it also means that practically I am alone in business, with all the physical and mental challenges it brings. Of course, I have a mini team who helps me whenever that is needed but… what happens if something happens to me?
So is this your big fear?
You could say that. There is nothing without health. We need to admit that. Everyone needs to admit that, whatever it is they do in life. Health is square one where everything starts from. We must strive to preserve it at any price. Even I must.
How demanding are your invitations to the various events?
They are definitely physically demanding. The travels, presenting the products, even simple farmer’s market appearances. To be on your feet from sunup to sundown, for days, it is not easy, I am exhausted every night. Since 2014 this line of my work has become pretty relevant, with all the speaking gigs and all. On the other hand, it’s the way I can meet many people, that I am able to have personal contact with my clients, which is really important to me. To see the joy on their faces when they are enjoying the taste of my little bites with eyes closed, that means the world to me.
Besides health risks, what do you find tough in your world?
I am going to be a hundred percent honest here, my lifestyle is tough on personal relationships. I get it, it is not easy to adapt to a woman who manages her own business, especially one reliant on hard physical work – and livestock raising and breeding is exactly like that. It is non-stop responsibility and activity, and someone is either able to accept it or the relationship won’t last.
Another thing, one that can really impact my mood, is when a problem comes up that I cannot find a solution to. Of course, in the end it will come, but till it does, I find myself in a gloomy mood, I get sad, and even panic a little bit. Yes, of course I can panic, too. Then one nice day the enlightenment comes bringing along the answer and the relief – but in the meantime I can have some pretty bad days. There is no other remedy than the answer itself, a nice hot bath won’t ease my anxiety.
How do you relax after a hard day… every day, in your case?
To be fully honest I never really thought it was important to relax, there has not really been a break for 38 years. There are maybe two weeks, tops, that I can take off in a year. I have already mentioned the importance of health and for that mental relaxation is essential, so I have started doing that recently.
The thing that helps is riding my dirt bike. I like to exhaust myself with intense riding in nature – when I go all in, then I can actually rest after such a adrenaline-filled ride. I also like reading, during my forced rest I reached again for my books. I enjoy self-help and psychological pieces.. And in the winter I always find time for a good sauna. It rejuvenates my body and soul, recharges me. I love it.
Continue doing that so that we can enjoy your Hungarikum-products which, let’s share with the readers, completely satisfy the requirements of a ketogenic diet with their high fat content, regardless of which product we choose. What is there to know about Mangalitsa?
True, Mangalitsa is a perfect choice for a ketogenic lifestyle. A 160-kg animal consists of around 40 kg of meat, 30-60 kg of fat and the rest is bone, which is great for making bone broth, a nice, fatty-collagenic cooking base. Based on current science fat is not the enemy, it is not what turns into body fat (that is excess carbs unprocessed by the body). And Mangalitsa fat is high in Omega 3 fatty acids, which is the best kind of fat for our bodies.
Ketogenic lovers, go for Mangalitsa! And anyone who seeks a healthy kind of fat for cooking or ultra-tasty meat products. Zsoka, how could you summarize everything you have gone through in your 38 exciting, action-packed years? How could you cheer those who cannot decide yet which way to move, only feeling they should move somewhere as being where they are now is not the right place for them?
Listen to your heart, no matter what. Give a chance to everything that interests you. Figure out what your real passion is – that is half the way to success. Seek ways to turn that passion into an income. With perseverance, diligence, and dedication we can create anything if we are able to believe in ourselves.
Thank you for the great conversation, Zsoka. I wish you the best of the best, I wish for your dreams to come true. But I know you will make them come true, like you have always done
Thank you so much, Kami. It was a pleasure to be here and share. I’ve enjoyed being a bit nostalgic and revisiting those memories for myself. Which, honestly, come to my mind only rarely with how much I’m always running around. It was refreshing to have a little rest as an Attagirl! in your haven. Thank you again.
