{"id":374,"date":"2008-11-22T14:19:41","date_gmt":"2008-11-22T18:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=374"},"modified":"2014-06-10T14:43:24","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T14:43:24","slug":"polish-in-the-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/polish-in-the-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish in the Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I went food shopping with my dad. We went to one of the Carrefours in Gda\u0144sk<\/a><\/strong>. Don\u2019t ask me which one, I don\u2019t know, I have absolutely no sense of direction.<\/p>\n

Anyway, while walking around that Carrefour and looking for balsamic vinegar (ocet balsamiczny<\/a><\/strong>), I ended up in their \u201cforeign foods\u201d section. And, oh dear\u2026 Take a look, because I don\u2019t know what to say:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That \u201ckuchnia chi\u0144ska<\/a><\/strong>\u201d (Chinese cuisine\/food) label and stacks of Japanese products caught me off guard. Right next to sushi rice and wasabi paste, there were Thai curries and Vietnamese hot sauce. All dutifully labeled as \u201ckuchnia chi\u0144ska<\/strong>.\u201d There was Malaysian sambal oelek, and Japanese soba noodles, all dumped under \u201ckuchnia chi\u0144ska<\/strong>.\u201d There were surprisingly few Chinese products available, apparently due to the recent restrictions on food imports from China.<\/p>\n

Still, wouldn\u2019t \u201ckuchnia azjatycka<\/a><\/strong>\u201d (Asian cuisine\/food) or even \u201ckuchnia orientalna<\/a><\/strong>\u201d (Oriental cuisine\/food) be a better way of describing it?<\/p>\n

\u201cNah,\u201d<\/em> said my dad, \u201cif it\u2019s to be eaten with rice, then it surely must be Chinese.\u201d<\/em> He was joking, of course. Well, was he? Apparently, that\u2019s how the great majority of Polish people I talked to thought about Asian cooking. And they looked at me funny when I explained it\u2019s like dumping Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, Bulgarian and other Eastern European cuisines under a common Russian label. I mean, they all eat borscht and potatoes and drink vodka, right? Same, same. \u201cOh, no,\u201d<\/em> my friend would answer, \u201cit\u2019s different in Europe.\u201d<\/em> Well, is it?<\/p>\n

And while we ponder this contradiction, let\u2019s take a look at the word \u201ckuchnia<\/strong>.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s an interesting, all purpose word in Polish.<\/p>\n