The reaction of foreigners to Polish food is always interesting. Our cuisine is rich in flavors that might be considered unique by people from other cultural backgrounds. However, they usually enjoy the food very much, and we take great pride in that.
Koreans Tried Several Polish Dishes and Made a Surprising Comparison
The creator of the Crazy Korean Cooking channel decided to see how her Korean parents would react to Polish dishes. She noted that they had only previously tried Polish sausage (you can see how they reacted when she brought it home: Daughter Brings Polish Sausage to Her Korean Parents. They Took It Out of the Package, and It Began), but they hadn’t had the chance to try other Polish dishes and products.
She took them to a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, that serves Polish cuisine and specializes in pierogi. The Koreans ordered as many as six varieties of our flagship dish, although some of the fillings were not typically Polish: Russian-style, pork, potato with cheese and jalapeno, potato with egg, shallots and dill, cabbage and mushrooms, and bacon with potatoes and chives. They also tried stuffed cabbage rolls (gołąbki) and beetroot soup (barszcz). One of these dishes was described by the girl's mother in a rather surprising way.
"It tastes like spaghetti wrapped in cabbage."
Can you guess which dish she was referring to? Of course, it was the gołąbki. It's hard to say why the filling was compared to spaghetti, but the mother seemed pleased and probably enjoyed it, which is the most important thing. The father, on the other hand, praised the beetroot soup, although at first, neither of them could guess what the soup was made of. They thought it was red wine.
They also had a lot of fun eating the pierogi, which is not surprising since Koreans have their own version of dumplings. The mother even remarked that Polish pierogi are similar to Korean dumplings and wondered how they made their way to Poland. Both parents liked the pork-filled pierogi the best.
The restaurant Pierożek, where the Koreans dined, even left a comment under the Crazy Korean Cooking post. The staff wrote that they were happy the family enjoyed the food and assured the Korean family that they are always welcome at the restaurant.
