Fučka, Slovak potato-flour mash, has 11 names—and even the town of Detva can't agree

We counted comments in which each name appeared; a single comment may mention two names. We aren't including the commenters' names.

1. fučka – 33
2. chamuľa – 15, even though the post itself was titled Chamuľa
3. kuľaša – 9
4. čír or čier – 3
5. múčna kaša (flour porridge) – 2

Krumpľová kaša, braja, podbíjanka, guľaša, pučiavka, and buchta each appeared in one comment.

Fučka is also far ahead of kuľaša on Google: people in Slovakia search for fučka about 880 times a month on average, and kuľaša about 40 times (Google Keyword Planner, October 2025 through September 2026).

• Detva and the surrounding area: both chamuľa and fučka. One comment says, “It's chamuľa in Detva, too,” while another says, “I'm from Detva, and we call it fučka.” Comments from Krivaň, Pstruša, Piešť, and Bratkovica also mention chamuľa, while fučka is also mentioned in Detvianska Huta.
• Banská Bystrica, Tekov, Mičiná, and Púchov: fučka.
• Liptov: kuľaša. In Važec, it's čír or čier.
• Southern Slovakia: múčna kaša.

The names overlap beyond our comments, too. Recipes on Varecha also associate kuľaša with the Spiš region, and a study of dishes from the Podpoľanie region lists the name “chamula – fučka.”

The same name doesn't necessarily mean the same thing everywhere. From the comments:

• In Kokava nad Rimavicou, this dish was called fučka, while chamuľa was something else: potatoes mashed with butter and bryndza, a soft sheep's milk cheese.
• In another comment, chamuľa is a milk soup with prunes.
• Elsewhere, fučka is made with peas, and the potato version is called pučiavka.
• One comment associates the name buchta with a version made with tvaroh, a fresh curd cheese, and onion.

The comments also mention kukuričianka, which is made from cornmeal and served with sautéed onion. A similar dish is our cornmeal porridge with bryndza.

The second debate was about what to use to thicken the dish. About 12 comments mention all-purpose flour, 2 mention coarse flour, and 1 mentions semi-coarse flour. Two comments praise semolina, and two reject it.

A comment from Banská Bystrica also describes the method: thicken fučka with coarse flour and cook it on the stove “until it starts to puff and sputter”—or “fučkať” in Slovak. We haven't verified whether that's where the name comes from. The same comment adds that milk isn't added to the mash; it's only served as a drink alongside the finished dish.

We have both versions on the website: chamuľa with semolina and fučka with all-purpose flour.

Sautéed onion is mentioned most often (about 12 comments), followed by butter (7), cultured sour milk (6), and pork cracklings (4). In one comment from Liptov, the dish is drizzled with browned butter. A sweet version with sugar appears in 3 comments, and kefir or žinčica, a fermented sheep's whey drink, is also served alongside it.

We also have kuľaša with pork cracklings and cultured sour milk and fučka with sauerkraut on the site.

If it has a different name where you live, tell us in a comment on Facebook, and we'll add the name to the list.