Is sustainable living becoming a trend in Hungary?

Laszlo Kemencei plays with his daughter in the family greenhouse. In 2021, he and his wife Cintia Mnyere moved into a house on 4.5 hectares (about 11 acres) of land some 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Budapest. "This land, we have not inherited from our fathers, but we have it on a lease from our children [...] so we try to live and farm the land in a sustainable way," Kemencei told Reuters.

Kemencei estimates that, in addition to his family, around 1,000 other families in the area around the town of Kecskemet are striving for a sustainable way of life or consider themselves self-sufficient. Petra Pogany-Bago's family is among them — they have to fetch water for washing up from a well. Some of these people live in ecologically-oriented villages where they help each other.

"We should reduce our wants just a little," said Kemencei. "We live in a world where we sit on a galloping horse and when the horse dies, we just jump on another one. This is scary, but I think everyone should do their best within their limits."

There are no official figures on how many families in Hungary have chosen a lifestyle similar to Kemencei and Pogany-Bago. However, the numbers seem to be increasing. A kind of trend is emerging where some want to reduce the cost of living, while others want to escape the consumer society or simply live in a more environmentally friendly way.

Gabi Varga (left) and Emo Ambrus wash vegetables to make kimchi. Both women are part of a self-sufficient community consisting mainly of neighbors who share their produce and sell it at various markets. Varga and her husband gave up their IT and solar module business for this new life.

Trusting networks are also important for Kemencei. Sometimes, he trades a pot-bellied pig or a chicken with friends for honey or other goods. "We sometimes slaughter chickens for barter trade," he said. "But only from a place where we know the farming is similar to ours."

Kemencei's family can get by on around 250,000 forint (€640/$694) a month. They buy all the staple foods they can't grow themselves. "We don't want to change the world here ... or become some kind of superheroes, there are plenty of those out there," he said. "We would like to produce most of what we need."