Food / Schmaltz.. is it still used in Poland [21]


They don't use it now. There's something called smalec which is either pork dripping or lard, depending how it's made, but schmaltz isn't used.

Food / Traditional and lesser known foods of Poland [21]


And a particularly bland and flavourless type of chop at that.

Life / Poles are not racist [873]


It is indeed a type of trolling, but also true that Poles have had such drastic changes forced on them over the years that some people are very cautious about change.

Not spies though. :-)

News / Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport to close in September [27]


About five years ago a half finished office block in Warsaw collapsed for that reason. The concrete was cast on site when the temperature was around zero. When spring came, the whole construction project fell down like a pack of cards.

Food / Traditionally-Polish salads, help needed [28]

Bzibzioh

Bigger supermarkets have it, but it isn't popular - a bit of an exotic vegetable compared to celeriac.

Food / Traditionally-Polish salads, help needed [28]

Thanks for the advice. In the end, I made something like 1Jola's recipe, but with red and white beans and using red onion and finely sliced seler natrowy celery (as opposed to celeriac). I was worried I'd made too much (there were 4 salads as a starter for fortyfive people) but they loved it and ate the lot.

Thanks!

Real Estate / Can foreigners buy land, house, or apartment in Poland? [60]


You'll need a lawyer specialising in property claims. If the deeds no longer exist, it may take rather longer. One problem is that a lot of city records and archives in Warsaw didn't survive the events of 1944. It could be impossible if someone else was, rightly or wrongly, able to establish ownership after the war and there are no documents to show otherwise. Though it should be worth it, given that the address you mention is right in the centre of the capital and among the most valuable real estate in the country. You should choose a large law firm.

edit

looking quickly on google maps, if number 33 is the pre-war address, then it may well be under the forecourt of Central Station (problematic) or under the Zloty Taras shopping mall (a potential gold mine). Very worth looking into.

Life / Fat People in Poland? [161]


I see the exact opposite here in Warsaw.

Though unlike UK, the women tend to be slim here and men, even young ones, often have real bigos bellies.

Work / Teaching English in Zakopane, is it safe? [45]

strzyga

People in Poland are often quite spiritually minded, many too are unhappy with the RC church and are looking for something else. This can be a golden chance for a money-making religious group to find gullible new members.

Some of these new religious movements offer a quick spiritual fix, companionship for the lonely, a feeling of belonging to something. But none of them are cheap, either financially or psychologically.

Churches often overstate the dangers of sects and cults - the Dominican information centre here always takes a position against new religious movements without objectively analysing them. But many are indeed dangerous.

Closer to the topic of the thread, young and vulnerable EFL teachers, away from home and insecure, can be at risk of being recruited by either a cult or a fundamentalist Christian group. I've seen this happen.

But thankfully in Poland the risks are few - there isn't much chance of being snared by a sinister cult, and certainly not in Zakopane.

Work / Teaching English in Zakopane, is it safe? [45]


I noticed that too. It's the Eye of Horus: Check it out and decide for yourself if it's a 'symbol zła'. I just use it because I like it. :-)

I noticed they also consider the Yin/Yang to be a symbol of evil, which would come as a surprise to most people from China.

About sects in PL, there certainly are some. I suspect more so in the provinces that in Warsaw, and surely not in Zakopane.

Scientology has a presence but is largely underground - they do discreet voluntary work but don't actively recruit, and aren't allowed to by law. Hare Krishna are quite big in Warsaw, and have been around since the mid-80s. Bahai (sect or not is another matter) has a presence, especially in the provinces. The 'Great White Brotherhood' (the ones that were stockpiling petrol ready for the end of society then got fined a fortune when it leaked out of the underground tanks) have a small presence here, and Osho (the ones that deliberately poisoned hundreds of people in the US with salmonella) are well established and sell a lot of their founder's books.

One (smallish) language school here in Warsaw is very closely connected to a well known sect, but thankfully they don't try to recruit their native speakers. Many if not all of the Poles working there come from within the membership though, and I suspect their students get the soft sell. One of their corporate clients switched to me because the soft sell had become a little less soft.

Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]

Goldschlager is originally Swiss.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldschl%C3%A4ger
The one traditionally from Gdańsk is called Goldwasser, though it's now produced in Germany.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwasser

Food / Polish kishka [76]

Kiszka freezes well.

Genealogy / Biskupin, powiat Zninski, Poland [3]

During the war, the Germans did a lot of excavation in and around Biskupin - maybe they destroyed the older houses in the village?

Food / Traditionally-Polish salads, help needed [28]

That sounds nice :-)

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Roots, remember aren't only about biological ancestry. Don't you think there's been centuries of cultural dialectic?

Life / How reliable are Internet connections/wifi in Gdansk? [4]

And all MacDonald's have wifi.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


And over 100,000 contacted the relevant agencies in the first couple of years of opening.

Not such a small number.

Life / Nicorette Inhalator - are they available in Poland? [10]

Trevek

I have one - they're so-so. Look nice though. I've noticed they're on sale in quite a few places. The law must have changed, because until recently the refill cartridges were illegal here.

Nicorette inhalators are a different thing, like an e-cigarette but without the electric bit. They are available at larger chemists in Poland.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


I suspect you mean kilts. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_tartan

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]

vetala

A small history, but an interesting one.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Scotland

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Yes. Poland's borders (Polish/Lithuanian Commonwealth) in the late middle ages went from the Baltic to the Black Sea. A very large area.


Never from Scotland. The only country in Europe to never at any point in history have any anti-semitic law or decree.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]

Threatened in what way?

The Khazars followed several religions and are not, repeat are not, the ancestors of Ashkenazi Jews.

Unless you have hard evidence to the contrary.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Who feels threatened? Seems a bit paranoid.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Who are they? Sounds like a crank theory. The ancient Khazars are irrelevant to Israel.


What about historical accuracy? Backed up by scientific proof?


They didn't disappear. Their culture largely did. They stayed where they always lived, and the local inhabitants of that region are their descendents.

Food / Polish kishka [76]

pszczola

That's how the French do it (and me too sometimes). I've never seen it here in Poland though, except in my own kitchen.

Try adding coarsely chopped apples if you do it that way.

red apples by the way, not green - the green ones just turn to a mush :-)

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Cultural Roots. Not DNA ancestry. A culture has roots without reductionism on the basis of DNA.


Yes, culturally very much so. Poland has never been an island, with eyes closed to all around it. Nor has Germany.


Brainwashed by whom, PP? I'd really like to know.

For for the record, I don't now, nor have ever thought "Khazars are a bad thing". They are an anvient civilisation, long gone, and a long way from Poland. The Khazar Khanate died out centuries ago, and the descendents of the Khazars largely remained in that area. DNA evidence proves that. They did not become Aszkhenazi Jews, as some active racists like to claim. DNA proves that also.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Read the title of this thread. Go on, just read it. At the top of the page.


So go on then. What's your definition of roots? I can predict what you'll say, but lets hear it anyway.


I'd would be very curious indeed if I had said it. You keep doing that! Putting words into people's mouth to try to back up your groundless argument.

For reference, the sentence I'm writing now is the first time I've used the word 'assimilates'.

Can you deny that Polish culture has absorbed elements from Jewish life? I've already given examples of cuisine and vocabulary - do you want more examples?

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


How would you delineate?


Who said that? Not me, not anyone else.

I think you'd better learn a new technique of discourse. Otherwise it just looks like you're making up points and then disagreeing with yourself.


I'm glad you're now agreeing with me. :-)

Remember it happens both ways. No culture can have contact with another on a significant scale and not absorb some values or traits.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Doesn't take long, does it.


The Chinese food served in Germany probably has.

The facts are this. That the culture of Central Europe is in part influenced by Jewish culture. This is part of the roots of modern German and Polish cultures.

It is proved by linguistic, artistic, philosophical, literary and culinary dialectic.

Ethnicity is about culture. Not DNA.

But you know this really.