If there were a single image that could represent both Poles and Germans at once, it would be an image of potatoes. Which is actually a bit strange, because in both countries potatoes appeared on the table relatively recently — less than 200 years ago. They largely replaced groats, and, to some extent, bread as … Read more
Is it possible to host a vegan Christmas Eve? Absolutely — and it can be fully in line with Polish holiday tradition. Much more so than the Western-inspired habit of serving roasted poultry for Christmas Eve dinner. If we look deeper into history — and also deeper into society — we see a culinary reality that is very different from what … Read more
Once very popular in traditional folk cooking, today these ingredients are truly underappreciated and underused. Various grains, seeds, and nuts — from sunflower seeds to hemp (with their phenomenal protein content), pumpkin seeds, and walnuts. On the one hand, they no longer play the role they once did, when even a hundred years ago, nuts and seeds … Read more
Sandwiches built Germany. Actually, not just Germany. All of Europe and North America. Sandwiches that workers took with them to work. And these weren’t sandwiches with fancy cold cuts — workers couldn’t afford that. But, for example, with various spreads, because those were easy to make tasty out of scraps, leftovers, and the cheapest ingredients. Here’s another … Read more
My latest culinary fascination is… German cuisine. Yes, the very same German cuisine I regularly bash. More precisely, something I consider to be a true German specialty. And no, it’s not Bratwurst or oatmeal. It’s Brotaufstrich! Which means all kinds of spreads and pastes for bread. INGREDIENTS: 200 g canned or cooked chickpeas 50 g capers 50 g … Read more
The Belgian-Swiss chocolate giant Barry Callebaut is working on cell-based cocoa. This is probably the first case of this technology being applied to a plant-based product. The effects of climate-change-driven weather anomalies are already being felt by all lovers of the two pillars of our culture and civilization: coffee and chocolate. Coffee and cocoa prices have been … Read more
The subject of pâté is fascinating — surely worthy of a treatise… That’s how it might begin. Imagine a cookbook penned by Czesław Miłosz. If “The Year of the Hunter” had a culinary appendix. What cuisine would he have described? Most likely Lithuanian, naturally — perhaps specifically the dishes from the manor in Šeteniai, where he grew up. A … Read more
Gryfny Shalad for Advent. That’s about the extent of my Silesian, which is barely better than my German. These languages are very much relevant here because *Hekele* is a Silesian Advent salad, sometimes also served on Christmas Eve. And Silesia is one of the most fascinating corners of Europe. Situated between Poland, the Czech Republic, … Read more
TVP: texture vegetable protein. Until recently, only TSP, or “textured soy protein,” was available on the market. These are all those products like dry soy cutlets (affectionately called “sawdust cutlets”), pieces, granules, steaks — large, rectangular cutlets with a fibrous texture. TSP products had their time, at least in Poland, in the 1990s, when they were pretty … Read more
Have you ever cooked a classic dish you had no idea how it was supposed to taste? Recently, I was tasked with exactly that. We were expecting a visit, postponed since the pandemic, from a high-ranking teacher. You’re not required to know what kind of teacher, so let me explain. I cook at a Tibetan … Read more
