Things you can't get used to in your new country

The people who die that way every year (the report also covers US accidents) might disagree.
baua.de/EN/Service/Publications/Report/Gd69-2.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2

I can't get use to how the less than 1% get treated like a majority..
I always thought it was, "For the people, by the People".

I like Darwin.

Fish for Christmas dinner.
Everything/anything kiszone/kwaszone.
No cows or sheep in the fields.

You....you...BLASPHEMER!!!!!!

So much flat countryside.
So many straight roads.
The huge distances between places.

Cam you explain a bit more?

I know- national speed limit when it's obvious driving more than 40 will end with head on collision

Kapusta kiszona belongs in the bin, however most other pickled stuff I love. The Polish red cabbage is cut to small, not enough vinegar and no crunch. If I buy it, I put some white vinegar, peppercorns and allspice in the jar.


At home we sometimes had halibut at Christmas.


I miss these.

@Lenka
How do you find the butter in the U.K.? I've known a few Poles there who really dislike salted butter.

Buy unsalted one :) I just don't see a point. If I want butter with salt I can sprinkle it on top. Thankfully all the supermarket sell unsalted versions now.


Suròwka from kapusta kiszona is to die for with fried fish!


Question I have here : does Atch mean fish on Christmas day or Christmas Eve?

It's to preserve it. Rather than for flavour (though salt obviously enhances that). Remember, the U.K. was the first country to industrialise and that happened long before fridges. It's possible to unsalt salted butter (chop in small pieces, put in a bowl, pour boiling water on and after it's cooled a bit, put it in t( fridge.

The salted/unsalted thing does have an effect on any given country's cake recipes and it's worth bearing in mind when you bake.


In PL, Wigilia for sure. In the U.K., Christmas Day. I've never figured out why people think we all have turkey. I've hardly ever had it at Xmas and frankly it's a nasty meat.

About things you can't get used to, I've never figured out why turkey is dearer per kg than chicken in Poland. I've asked people and they've said that turkey is better. I don't know why they think that since turkey (in Poland where it's all factory farmed very much so, maybe more than the U.K. which has 'posh' turkey and factory farmed stuff) is far lower quality, basically a sort of protein mass full of artificial hormones that was once briefly alive.


Now and again, in small quantities for me. I'm not a cabbage fan but do like red cabbage and love pickled red cabbage, the crunchier the better. I'm a northerner, so I'd put malt vinegar on fried fish, and put it on from the bottle in that way that northern men always do (google vinegar strokes if you're not at work and are broad-minded).

People eating pizza with knife and fork in a sit down restaurant and never any garlic powder or oregano to sprinkle on ya pizza anywhere in Poland.

The Polish diet does tend to be immensely filling, and indeed quite tasty, if somewhat
bland compared with certain other cuisines, such as Southern Italian, Indian, Mexican etc.

The two are close to being opposites. It's quite bland really.

I remember 20 odd years ago buying a packet of something called kotlety sojowe (they were nasty as I recall). I was still learning the language then so was glad they had instructions in English in the label. The English text said "if you want to make it spicy, add a tomato"!!!!!

There's a reason there are only very few Mexican restaurants in Warsaw and that the Indian ones are almost all rubbish.

(The place in Hala Koszyki is ok though).

When I go back to Yorkshire from Poland, I'm generally screaming for chilli. That and decent bacon which barely exists in PL.

Because all the staff is cheap economic migrants from uk.They have to do that work to make ends meet as teaching Angelski dont pay for food.

No. Generally Indians or Poles.

None of them are any good. I used to go to one that was ok but it's probably closed now.

I get my brit and irish cleaners cook it for me in my lil flat in centrum:)


Which one?The one where that blank shooter use to wait tables and wash dishes?

It's only a kawalerka in a communist era high rise. The corridors must be minging.


One that's above your level.

I have never found a decent Indian restaurant in Poland.

Maharaja wasn't bad usually but the rest are mostly grim. If you order pakora it's several quid and they aren't pakora. Just potato slices with a runny batter on. And the sauces are all the same since they assume that people don't know what's what. I ordered lamb once since my guest had never eaten it and it was rotten mutton, actually decomposing.

I don't mind the one in Hala Koszyki (more 'authentic' on the menu than a Bradford or a Birmingham curry house but the best so far in Warsaw and we've been a few times and will go back) and people recommend the newish one on ul. Grzybowska thought I've not been yet.

Perhaps I'm spoiled because I worked in Bradford for several years (and once went for a pub cerawl and mucky curry with Bradford's second most infamous resident) and near the place I go to in England there's a tiny Indian restaurant which is supposed to be the best in the north. Half the price of a Warsaw one too.

Probably they take advantage of being a novelty and people not really having clear expectations of what it's like and how much it costs.

There was a very small and pretty decent Bengali one in a cellar by the Polytechnic however I'm not sure if a. it's still there and b. if it is, whether or not it's still good.

My Indian friends don't rate Bengali cuisine.
Maybe it's a racist thing, but they do like some Pakistani food,so maybe I'm wrong about the racism and it is down to the food.

The egg and fish stuff I can take or leave, preferably leave. Most curry houses in the north and midlands are run by Banglas and the little one in Warsaw did a nice lamb masala.


Pretty well. I used to go out for a curry in the U.K. with a friend from India (Punjabi Sikh) and he used to search out South Indian places. If you look at the distance, it's like us going for a fondue or maybe even a paella. Pakistani cuisine has more in common with British Indian food tha fish and rice does. Lots of grilled lamb and things with almonds in.

Because he craved the hotter,spicier dishes.

I am with him!

But I found Sri Lankan food a touch too spicey,(Hot) for me.

Me too. The best Indian food I've had is in the Middle East. I used to go quite a lot to a place in Doha down a backstreet where Indian workers (white collar jobs, there without their families) used to go for meals. £2 for the curry of the day (never a choice) with unlimited chapattis and if you paid 50p more you got unlimited extra helpings.

The hottest I've had was a sort of rice mince and peas thing that my colleague's wife (they were from Bangladesh, quite old now) used to make. Hot as hell and delicious. I miss that.

In PL, I'll never get used to some of the portions in the restaurants. I once saw a guy order a schabowy with potatoes and aurówka then order the same thing again right after. I thought it was a bit gross at the time though it's easy to see why with small portions. Plus, if you order pasta anywhere it comes in small portions like an Italian starter even though it's a main course.

Keema.

This one was dry rather than a keema masala. I'm pretty sure she cooked the mince separately from the rice in cumin and chilli then added it to cooked rice and peas, a bit like the Jamaican peas and rice but way hotter.

Another thing about Indian (and Arab) restaurants in Poland. Chinese too where they exist. Everybody orders a different dish and eats it themselves as if it's a European restaurant. With knives and forks too!

Christmas Eve. That's Polish Christmas dinner time :) whereas ours is on Christmas Day, the 25th.


No, no, no!! It's not the same thing at all. Salted butter has only a delicate hint of saltiness. I don't like unsalted butter at all. I notice that Kerrygold now produce an unsalted version. The weird thing is it's sold in a gold wrapper which is the original packaging so as an Irish person I'd expect it to be salted but in Poland the classic Kerrygold salted is sold in a silver wrapper. I'm so delighted I can get it here!


Huge distances - Poland is quite a large country and some places are not that accessible by public transport. To go from Warsaw to some places means two trains and a bus! So you're talking maybe five or six hours of a journey. Even within Warsaw, it's so sprawling and without an underground (metro has very limited lines) it can take ages to get to places. If I want to go to Ikea, I have to get a tram and a bus for example. Although I lived in the UK which is much bigger than Ireland, I didn't find it as tiring and overwhelming as Poland :)

Back to things I can't get used to:

Being so far from the sea :(
I suppose I never realised how much of an Islander I am until I lived in a country that's largely landlocked. I miss the sea terribly.

Yep jon, sounds about right.
Don't get me wrong, I'm crazy about Polish cooking,
good solid,bigos w/pyzy on the side, chlodnik for starters
all washed down with a nice local brew. This to me is pure comfort food!

Can't stand that stuff at all.

A thing that's hard to get used to?

Frozen chips. Why can't they just cut potatoes and deep fry them rather than buy frozen ones?

To each his own!
Without our local Polish deli/eatery,
I'd be sunk, excellent generic cook as my wife is:-)