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What does the word potato beef communism mean? Does it mean that the roast beef with potatoes has reached the communist standard?
In the ideological debate between China and the Soviet Union in 1960s, it was often seen in newspapers that China criticized the "potato beef" communism in communist party, but many people didn't know what "potato beef" was.

This matter has to start from the late 1950s. When Khrushchev, then general secretary of CPSU, visited Hungary, he delivered a speech at a mass rally, saying that when communism came, Hungary could often eat "Gulasi". Gulasi is a typical and famous dish in Hungarian cuisine. That is, beef, potatoes and red peppers are stewed in a small clay pot until the juice is thick, and then poured on rice, which is delicious. Hungarian food is very famous in Europe. Europeans often praise Hungarian food with Gulasi, just as they praise Chinese food with Beijing Roast Duck.

When translating Khrushchev's speech, the translators in the editorial department of Reference News of Xinhua News Agency were puzzled by the word "Gulasi". If the literal translation is "Gulasi", China readers don't know what it is, and the brackets are too long. So I talked with several reporters about the translation of this word. It happened that some of them knew the word, ate this dish and said it was just "roast beef with potatoes". The publication of Reference News was urgent every day, and then several editors decided to translate it into Roast Beef with Potatoes. Now it seems that this translation is not accurate, and it does not express the representativeness and universality of this dish in Hungarian cuisine, which later caused many misunderstandings.

Khrushchev's remarks are just a joke to please Hungarians, not that the standard of communism is that everyone can eat "roast beef with potatoes".