Squarely at the center of conversations and controversies about what Poland is and should be in the future, food has great political value due to the nation’s recent past as a socialist country in the USSR sphere of influence, its post-socialist transformation,...
Food appears where one would less expect it, including the stage. In a few contemporary Polish theater plays, it represents on the one hand a tangible sign of economic wealth and a reassuring proof of economic success, on the other the cause of tension between comfort...
Why do many restaurants and cafes around the world all look the same? Why they all seem to display similar upcycled materials, mismatched chairs, blackboards, plants, and menus that at times require some effort to interpret – let alone enjoy? Welcome to Global...
A cookbooks author’s passion for food and his need to fit in the cultural and political expectation of his times allow us to peek into the material culture of later 1950s and early 1960s socialist Poland, where class differences were a touchy topic. How could a gay...
How could a gay man who loved food express his passion for cooking and eating in socialist Poland? Easy: he created a fictional straight couple and had them write a cookbook meant to help singles (and the soon-to-be-married) improve their quality of life, at least in...
Sometimes doing research and ethnography in a place also means getting involved in the local politics. Even when your research is about food. A group of people connected to the food and hospitality business have decided to get together and do something to show their...
