simplepole

OK, so yesterday I went food shopping for the first time since I was back. Given that most my culinary education happened whilst in the UK, you might have expected some interesting clashes of cultures (no Jamie Oliver in Poland yet). I wonder if you could guess what things surprised me. I chickened out and didn’t go for small shops (if they still exists) where you have to ask for things (and hence show how poor my culinary polish is!). Instead I went for the ‘friendly’, ‘global’ TESCO and Carrefour. So …

1) vast, vast majority of milk sold is UHT, I found only one diary firm who supplied ‘fresh’ milk in 1L bottles. Given I use it only for tea it made me long for 1/2 pint boxes on semi-skim or full-fat. (NB full fat in Poland is 3.2%, which I think is more than in the UK.)

2) vast, vast majority of eggs are from battered chicken farm – I found only one from somewhere with better conditions, however hard to determine how much better this condition is.

3) there are no spices! OK, exaggeration, but not much. I managed to buy basil, marjoram, oregano, pepper and salt. OK, there were few more ‘mixed’ spices, from respectable herbs provencal to cheating ‘chicken spices’. Where is nutmeg, dill, allspice, thyme, turmeric, not to mention safron!?!

4) there are only two variates of potatoes: new and old! Are British really so obsessed with potatoes, or do they have a point in appreciating the difference between floury from waxy? I would be tempted to give them the point, wouldn’t I.

5) cheese selection seems respectable, albeit missing the most glorious and highly desired Stilton.

6) no croissants- I will have to find something else for leisury Saturday breakfast.

Well, this should be enough for my first observations of food-kingdom in Poland. In the end my shop consisted of olive oil, the above mentioned spices, emergency frozen pizza and a pack of crisps. And I still have not cooked anything properly – am eating through the full fridge that my parents prepared for my return!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 5:53 pm and is filed under cooking & food, day by day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.