Polish domestic life
DOMESTIC LIFE
For the most part, in cities, only the most privileged can afford modern
kitchen appliances. Country kitchens have changed little in hundreds of
years: enamelware and cast-iron cooking pots, wooden implements for
stirring and pounding, heavy rolling pins for doughy, mortar and pestle
for crushing and blending, and sturdy, well-scrubbed wooden tables. All
utensils and furnishings have been time-tested and in many cases used for
many generations.
Food storage poses little problem for city dwellers: in good times and
bad, preference is for foods freshly purchased. Age-old methods of food
preservation prevail in rural areas: brining of vegetables, salting of
fish, drying of wild mushrooms and garlic and large quantities of
home-preserved fruits and jams all carefully stored in cellars or kitchen
shelves are the pride of every peasant household. The tradition of a full
pantry remains, and many Polish households take pride in this.