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What are the things which cause culture shock in Poland? [164]
The contrast in Paris is huge and terrifying. The sheer poverty and hopelessness of the suburbarbs vs the wealth of Paris proper is...mindblowing.
Likewise London - look at the poverty of Tower Hamlets compared to the wealth of the City - then look at how far apart they are.
I must admit I was pretty shocked when I took the Eurostar to Paris - I lived in a very divided London area (Battersea) at the time, but nowhere round there looked as bad as those north Paris suburbs. it reminded me of films made in the South Bronx in the 1970s. You read all this **** about beautiful, romantic Paris, then you see that the reality is very different. Even south London had nowhere as bad as those areas. East Manchester before they started doing it up was probably the nearest thing we had tom it over here.
But it's the same round here, really. Just going to the dentist makes me realise how divided many British cities are. Where I live is like a paradise compared to Lower Broughton, which is where the aforementioned dentist has his clinic, yet it's only a couple of miles away, if that :0
i personally find english streets lined up with identically looking houses depressing to say the least
Depends what kind of "identical houses" you mean. Some of those "identical" streets are really attractive, and sought-after. And even many of those which aren't quite so aesthetically pleasing are far more attractive than concrete-slab Polish blocks!
The Old Polish cuisine
is immensely rich, and despite the fact that the modern cuisine in Poland is significantly
less diverse, saying that it lacks diversity and is "plain, old boring" only shows the
ignorance of those who never really tried a real traditional Polish dish.
Absolutely. There must be literally hundreds of Polish dishes I haven't tried, and I grew up on Polish food, although I'll admit that we ate plenty of English, Italian, Chinese and Indian food too : ).
The fact that I have
three Polish cookbooks, but only one Indian, says something about the alleged lack of diversity of Polish food ;)
fish and chips or shepherd pie does not really make you a kitchen powerhouse, eh?
It would if all you had ever tried before that was plain kluski śląskie or plain Chinese congee with no added flavourings :D
English food is ethnic cuisine, curry's have been eaten in Britain for hundreds of years,
I'm sure I'm not the only one on here who is fed up of people knocking England, the English, and English food.
The English
are an ethnic group, and therefore English food is
also "an ethnic cuisine". It may not be as diverse as "Chinese" cuisine, but that's hardly surprising - China is as large and diverse as the whole of Europe.
And you may not realise that Britain even has (shock horror) its own regional dishes/specialities - Yorkshire pudding, Cumberland sausage (Cumbria), Melton Mowbray pork pies (Leicestershire), Eccles Cakes/Chorley Cakes (Lancashire), Faggots & Peas (Birmingham/Black Country) to name but a few... all of which are pretty good.
Oh, and that stuff which Scousers eat (but we won't mention them too loudly, will we ;) )
And just to make sure the Scots don't left out, I love haggis as well :D
