Yummy lard

Catherine Driscoll catherine.driscoll at arts.usyd.edu.au
Thu Jan 9 00:09:30 PST 2003



> > An ex-girlfriend from the States was living in Poland as
> > a student. The family she was staying with, to honor their
> > guest, slaughtered a pig and served it to her with a raw
> > egg on top. She is Jewish.
>
> Do you mean she follows Kosher? In my experience, just being 'Jewish'
> (before we start the "What does it mean to be 'N'?" thread again, let's
> limit this to "self-identified Jewish") doesn't make it a slam-dunk that
> there's not going to be some pork-eating going on. In fact, quite to
> the contrary.
>
> I don't always understand it, but I figure it just has to do with the
> fact that there's one special ingredient that makes everything taste
> better: pig.

Arrival in Kracow, trying to find food, one vegan and two vegetarians -- one Jewish, but no not kosher except incidentally, and Jordan I think you overestimate how definitive that particular choice is. Sunday evening. Raining, lightly. Our visible options were a vending machine in the station, McDonalds (as it was closing), and some kind of fair in the main square. I still don't know what it was about, but the only food option was small legs of cooked pork, served whole with a ladle of sauerkraut and a small round bread roll. Served, I would add, at outdoor tables at which you stood. I don't think the bread had time to get soggy, but I guarantee Polish inner-city drizzle does nothing good to pickled cabbage.

Vegetables are a big ask in the parts of Poland I've stayed -- at best they were expensive and hard to track down. However, the "worker cafes" (I can't remember the correct term) were great. Part of that was a kind of anthropological thrill -- women queueing with glass jars to be filled with a choice of soups, stews etc. -- but despite being really clearly out of place their ruski pirogi was wonderful. I also have to credit smoked salmon and vodka, and those breakfast rolls with apple and something in. But -- there was a point -- there were different versions of "Jewish food", only one of which was "kosher".

Catherine

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