I just found out I had some notes for this in a long-forgotten draft. Seeing as I haven’t posted in a while, I thought now’s as good a time as any.

Perhaps the most fantastic part of any travel experience is trying new food. As you’d duh, I’ve never hesitated to try something I’ve never heard of here, and I consider myself all the more enriched for it. In fact, I can’t remember the names of most things I’ve tried, but nonetheless I feel qualified to make a few mopping generalizations about Polish cuisine.

1. The Polish love cabbage

There’s something sketchy about cabbage that makes it different from normal lettuce, and I suspect that it’s this exact quality that Poles love. You can find cabbage in many traditional dishes here. Two name two spectacular ones: gołąbki (cabbage rolls) and bigos (a sort of stew). Read about ‘em, find some recipes and make ‘em today.

2. They don’t know sweets like Americans

Let me first say that I’ve had some great cakes and other sweets here in Poland. Wawel-brand Krówki are simply unparalleled (not even the Latin American dulce de leche stands a chance), and Kasia’s mom made me this admittedly strange—but delicious—casserole of plain pasta, cooked strawberries and sweet cheese (just put them together and mix it all up. I don’t know what it’s called and I can only guess how to make it, but it seems simple enough).

But anyway, I’ve found that, in the grocery store, baked sweets are to be avoided. Simple reason: They look good (sometimes), but they’re never half as good as they ought to be (or would be, were we in America). I bought pączki from the grocery store once—mistake. I bought some little cakes from the grocery store once—kind of awful, and it was even thoughtful enough to coat my mouth in wax. I bought some delicious-looking pastries from the grocery store once—gross.

So maybe the verdict is that I just need to find a new grocery store.

Or get an oven. That’d be nice. (High on my list of things I miss about home…)

But even so, there’s nothing in Poland that’s quite like a Cinnabon. So take heart, America, even when Hong Kong and India are threatening to steal our King of the World crown, we’ve still got something unequaled.

3. Pierogi are fantastic

You probably know about pierogi—almost everyone seems to have known about them (they even mentioned them in an episode of 30 Rock)—but I never heard of them till I came to Poland. In case you don’t know, let me explain: They’re dumplings filled with anything you want. Just little tender treasure chests of boiled dough.

What’s inside? Sometimes it’ll be sweet, creamy cheese (like a cross between cottage cheese and cream cheese). Sometimes it’s just meat (type unspecified… yes, sketchy). Sometimes it’s spinach. Or mushrooms. Or a mix of random. There are also sweet ones: Blueberries and strawberries are popular fillings. The best part is you can even invent your own… like a Build-a-Bear.

Anyhow, the wonder of pierogi is that they’re just plain old peasant food, but they’re so delicious and filling. And here’s a not-so-secret (but heretical) thing I like to do: brown them a bit on the frying pan before eating ‘em (as in my photo). It makes them a bit more delicious, but demotes their status from Polish traditional dish to American bastardization (although I’d like to point out that a fair number of Poles brown their pierogi, too).

4. Home cooking is the best

Well, duh.

5. I LOVE HORTEX

Hortex makes really, really fantastic juices. They have a product line called Vitaminka that I buy religiously… Vitaminka juices come in a number of flavor combinations; they all have apple and carrot (sounds weird, I know, but it’s good) and the third ingredient can be strawberry, raspberry, banana, pineapple, peach… Please, God, tell me they have similar juice in the States, because I’ll really miss this. (Well, I guess I could get a juicer and make it myself…)

Okay, that’s all. Now let me get back to my strict diet of buckwheat and lentils….