Polish and not only Polish cuisine :-) or What Polish People Traditionally Eat June 4, 2008

Polish cuisine is substantial. It is rich in meat and winter vegetables (cabbage in the dish bigos), and spices, as well as different kinds of noodles.
Traditional and still extremely popular foods in Poland include:

• kielbasa (sausage)



• flaczki (tripe)



• pierogi (stuffed dumplings of unleavened dough and varying ingredients). Their specific origins are unknown.



• pyzy (meat-filled dough balls, potato dumplings)



• kopytka (in Polish: small hooves), dumplings made of mashed potatoes, eggs and flour



• kołduny (meat dumplings)



• gołąbki (pronounced Go-waunm-b-ki) or small doves, pigeons in Polish, stuffed cabbage



• śledzie (sh-ledje-eh) – herrings



• bigos (typical of Polish and Lithuanian cuisine), stewed dish made of sauerkraut and/or fresh cabbage, meat and mushrooms



• kotlety (schabowy – breaded pork cutlet, and mielony – a rissole)




• golonka (pork knuckles cooked with vegetables)



• surowka – shredded root vegetabes with lemon and sugar (carrot, celeriac, beetroot) or fermented cabbage (kapusta kwaszona)



• Kasha, porridge commonly eaten in Eastern Europe, it can be made from any cereal, especially buckwheat, wheat, oats, and rye. It is one of the oldest known dishes in Eastern European cuisine, at least a thousand years old



• fish in aspic (gelatine)



• Borscht or borshch, a vegetable soup from Eastern Europe, which is traditionally cooked including beetroot as its main ingredient.



• chłodnik, a chilled beet or fruit soup for hot days traditional to the Belarusian, Lithuanian, Polish, Ukrainian and Russian cuisines



• Żurek (English: sour rye soup, sour soup),a soup made from soured rye flour and meat (usually boiled pork sausage or pieces of smoked sausage, bacon or ham), specific to Poland and other northern Slavic nations such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic.



• makowiec (poppy seed cake), typically Polish delicious cake baked around Christmas and Easter



• drożdżówka, a type of yeast cake

Today the foods are considered by most Polish people to be of Polish origin but actually they are a mixture of Jewish and Slavic and even other foreign cuisines.

In our next posts we will try to present the best recipes for some of the dishes.

Gimnazjum nr 18, Gdańsk, Poland

The Ascension June 4, 2008

The sixth Thursday after Easter is the day the Orthodox Church celebrates the Ascension of Christ. This day is also called „Ispas” and is connected to a few customs and stories.

In certain areas of our country people observe a celebration named „Mosii de Ispas”, a commemoration of the faithful departed. The houses and the burial places in the cemeteries are adorned with sycamore branches, and lovage leaves are placed at the windows. Requiems are held and food is offered in their memory, especially fresh bread, cheese, green onions and plum brandy. It is also a suitable day for marking the cattle.

This is the last day to prepare and eat again painted eggs and ”pasca” and to use the after-Easter greeting „Hristos a inviat!” („Christ has resurrected!”), but there is also a special greeting for this day : ”Hristos s-a inaltat!” („Christ has ascended!”).

According to a legend, by the time Christ was born, the oxen in the stables where this happened were peaceful, but the horses were not so good. So, the Virgin punished them by deciding they would never have quite enough to eat except on the Ascension Day. Due to this, the day is also called „Horses’ Easter”, and this phrase gradually got the meaning of „later”, „some other time” or even ”never”.

The Ascension Day is also called „Heroes’ Day” and it is the day we celebrate all those who have given their life for our country.

Hristos s-a inaltat!

Class 8A, School no. 92, Bucharest