Taste Another Culture!
by: Emilia Marchelewska

A saying: "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" seems to be very accurate for Ireland. As the economy has boomed and the influx of immigrants has begun everybody can taste other cultures in ethnic restaurants, take aways and even buy ingredients in fresh food markets and in Irish shops which have started providing food from all around the world such as Asian noodles, French cheese, Spanish meat and Polish soup.

One day a taxi driver surprised me a lot: when he had discovered the fact that I am Polish he straight away shouted out to me his favourite Polish dishes which are bigos (sort of cabbage stew), pierozki (dumplings) and zobrowka (Vodka) with apple juice. This, uncommon for an Irish person, culinary preference springs from the fact that his sister in law comes from Poland and for 25 years now has cultivated Polish cuisine at home.

When I met Gregg Behan, sales manager of Irish Broadband he told me about his colleague, Isobel from France. The other day she discovered a French delicatessen stall at a Fresh Food market in Leopardstown. Next day she served her country delights to her colleagues at work. Gregg points out: That was amazing! Everybody loved it. I would probably pass the stall by not even knowing what all that stuff is. But I liked the food she brought, so probably next time I will ask her to buy some of the nice sausages and cheeses for me.

On the other hand people arriving in Ireland are keen to taste Irishness as well… and not only Guinness but also Irish stew, bacon and cabbage, lamb and of course the famous Irish breakfast. Foreigners are disgusted looking at what we eat for breakfast, but some day they try it, and then when their family or friends come over, probably they will serve them a traditional Irish fry – Gregg wondered and I had to admit that it is exactly what happens!

People living in Ireland nowadays have an incredible chance to get to know other cultures. It might start from the food… I am certainly taking this opportunity. I love shopping in Asian and African markets, trying vegetables and lentils, which I have never seen in my life. I have fallen for Italian and Spanish cheese, cannot imagine my life without sushi and must have Indian at least once a month.