Hungarian Jewish food is a perfect example of acculturation. Take this piquant cucumber salad, which can be made with one of the three different kinds of paprika — mild, sharp, or sweet. Taken there by the Turks who discovered it in the New World, paprika has been cultivated in Hungary since the sixteenth century.

Ingredients

　　3 cucumbers

　　Salt to taste

　　1 onion

　　Freshly ground pepper to taste

　　2 tablespoons white vinegar

　　2 teaspoons water (about)

　　Fresh sweet paprika to taste

Step 1

Step 2

　　Reprinted with permission from Jewish Cooking in America by Joan Nathan. © 1998 Knopf