Food

Hi again everyone -
I know that one of the topics you did with Luis last week was FOOD.

What I'd like you to blog about this week is your favourite food and drink from your country. I'm sure everyone would love to hear about the great dishes you enjoy back home.

Also, if you have any favourite restaurants, it'd be great if you could write about them as well.

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Because I spent last week in Poland, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about Polish food.

I like Polish food, but it can be quite heavy sometimes. I guess it's good winter food!
They eat a lot of meat and potatoes in Poland! When you go out for dinner, you often have a soup first and my favourite one is called zurek. It's often served in a hollow piece of bread, as you can see in the picture below.
















The exact way it's cooked varies from area to area - and probably from family to family - but it tastes quite sour, quite sharp, and usually has sausages, onions and eggs in it, as well as other stuff. One of my Polish friends told me it's sometimes called Yesterday's unfinished food soup because you add anything you want to it. It's really nice, though.


For the main course, it's usually something meat based. I really like a dish called Bigos Satropolski. It's a kind of stew - it's thicker than a soup - and in fact is sometimes translated as Hunter's Stew! The word bigos can mean 'trouble' or 'big mess' in Plish, which always makes me laugh!

Typical ingredients include white cabbage, sauerkraut, various cuts of meat and sausages,tomatoes, honey and mushrooms. The meats may include pork (often smoked), ham, bacon, beef, veal, sausage, or venison - the meat from deers. It's usually served with mashed potatoes and can be very filling.















Another dish I love is called pierogi. They're dumplings, a bit like Japanese gyoza or something. They can be boiled, baked or fried and you can fill them with potatoes, cheese, meat, cheese or fruit. They're shaped like little triangles - and you can eat them as main course or else just as a snack. You often serve them with sour cream, and dip them in the cream. I really recommend them.
















Finally, my favourite Polish drink: it's a special Polish vodka called Zubrowka. It's flavoured with a special kind of grass - bison grass - which grows in the east of Poland and which bisons used to eat. This gives it a kind of strange green colour. You either drink it straight - in small shots - or else you mix it with apple juice. This is a very popular drink in Poland. It's delicious, but you can't have too much as it's 40% and will give you a terrible hangover if you overdo it!
















That's it from me for now, but if you'd like to know about Polish food, why not visit one of the many Polish restaurants in London. You can Google them and find one near where you're staying.