I actually don't know the etymology of the word - but you can't go far from Latin root of the word (English misery comes from the same root for sure) mizerny means shabby, weak, bad - the notion was some time in the past that mizeria is not a proper food i.e. potato and meat ;) (just cucumbers in sour cream plus chopped onion, salt and pepper - you can hardly satisfy hunger with such stuff)
actually I love mizeria
btw the same term mizeria is also applied to a pasteurised cucumber salad in oily vinegary brine (onions, piment and bay leave added) (there are some variations to the recipe btw)
According to Aleksander Brückner's classic Słownik Etymologiczny, mizeria (from the Italian word for misery, destitution, poverty) as the name of a cucumber salad arose as a schoolboy joke the same as gramatka (a fruit soup whose name is reminiscent of gramatyka = grammar). He did not elaborate.
Does anyone have the Polish recipe for cucumber salad? (Miseria???? I don't know the correct spelling.) Had it when I was in Poland last year and LOVED it.
Does anyone have the Polish recipe for cucumber salad? (Miseria???? I don't know the correct spelling.) Had it when I was in Poland last year and LOVED it.
Is this the right one? easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/vegetables/r/cukessourcream.htm
cuces - sliced as thin as possible. peeled is best but can be either way add a bit of sour cream and stir pepper the heck out of it. optional - add dill
Cucumber Salad#1 (Mizeria) 2 cucumbers 1 cup sour cream 3 green onions 2 teaspoons lemon juice salt/pepper to taste 1 teaspoon sugar Peel the cucumbers and slice very thin. Salt well and set aside for a few minutes. Squeeze the cucumbers to remove excess water. In a small bowl, mix the sour cream with lemon juice and sugar. In a serving glass salad bowl, mix the cucumbers, chopped green onion and the sour cream mixture. Chill before serving. Can be made ahead, but keep the cucumbers and chopped onions in separate bowl for the sour cream mixture. This cucumber salad can also be served with vinegar and sugar to taste.)
Several years ago I translated a paper on peasant food in Wielkopolska (fun fact: Poznanian 'rogale świętomarcińskie' are basically a fake folk tradition 'revived' so as to not have to honor the memory of Piłsudski who is not popular in Poznań due to his lack of support for the Wielkopolska uprising).
Anyway, about mizeria, details are fuzzy now, but if I remember right it was one of a number of joke names for food that stuck for whatever reason. Others included 'ślepe ryby' ( a kind of potato soup that AFAIK no one makes anymore).
Speaking about the ethymology of the word: - I heard a story that "misery" was felt by the Italian pricncess Bona Sforza, after she became the Polish queen. Apparently she felt homesick for Italy and at that times she would eat "mizeria".
Bona Sforza is believed to have introduced "włoszczyzna" ("Italian vegetables") to Poland around year 1520; apparently some of the vegetables were not known at that time (not sure which - please note however that cucumbers are not włoszczyzna!!!).
