1936 On the Continent

cafés and wherever there is dancing.
    The Christmas and New Year period, called the carnival, is the time when every club and society—though they may have forgotten about their own existence during the rest of the year—organises a ball. It is not difficult for a foreign visitor to obtain an invitation to one of the bigger balls—through one of the “gentlemen guides” or through friends that are soon made in Poland. The balls are not very formal affairs.
Polish Dances
    A characteristic feature is the dancing of the “Mazur” and other Polish national dances, very different from what would be described in Great Britain as “ballroom dancing.” Only one of them, the polka, is known outside the country, but the mazur is more dashing, enthralling and picturesque. It is attended by an elaborate ritual, conducted by an M.C. who executes many parts solo, with the dancers in a circle and everyone else watching. There is more abandon and reckless gaiety in that dance than in all the rest put together—and it has nothing of the sensual suggestiveness of the exotic tangoes, rumbas, etc., which fill in the rest of the night. A ball seldom ends before 5 or 6 a.m., and the “last Mazur” is certainly its climax.
    Mazur is not danced in the night clubs. The tango, or rather a Polish variety of it, is the favourite of these more public temples of amusement. It is not necessary to dine in these establishments, although it can be done—most of the guests are content with light refreshments, and even in the smartest places the cost of these can be as low as 5s. per evening, and there is no question of “consommation obligatoire.”
    Vodka in its various forms is a popular drink, and itshould certainly have a big appeal for lovers of gin, being much the same thing, only stronger. Another favourite drink is the old Polish mead, somewhat similar to very heavy port. Whisky is sure to be one of the most expensive items on the list; but the “zakaski”—a sort of hors d’œuvre on bread—which are usually served with the spirits, are of infinite variety and give full expression to all that is best in the national culinary thought. Smoked meats, different sausages and hams deserve a chapter of their own—but as such a chapter would inevitably lack the tantalising and peculiar fragrance which invades many Polish pantries, it will better remain unwritten.
Eats
    Talking of drinks and food must bring one to the subject of Fukier, the seventeenth-century wine cellar and restaurant, which boasts a collection of some of the oldest wines in Europe. A Polish meal, such as may be had in a house like Fukier’s, or in a hospitable home, is both elaborate and copious. It opens with vodka and the zakaski, which have been known to be taken by foreigners for the whole meal, although they are more of a prelude. Many varieties of pickled mushrooms, sharp sauces (none of which is sold by the bottle) and other stimulating spices help to tune the eater’s palate to a sensitiveness capable of appreciating what is to follow. The soup may be the barszcz, with meat and dried mushrooms rolled in pastry; in the summer it might be the chlodnik, the soup of a hundred ingredients, the inclusion of every one of which is the result of profound reflection, sometimes of devout meditation. River lobsters provide the dominant flavour, while small cubes of cucumber and veal add substance to this iced soup, freely mixed with cream.
    The other courses might include roast wild boar, or the North Country speciality “kolduny,” which consists of a skilfully mixed variety of chopped meats wrapped in small pastries and fried in fat. There might be a carp served in honey with almonds, a sucking-pig cooked whole and stuffed, or a roast capercaillie.
    The funny part is that your dinner might include practically all these dishes without overstepping in the least the bounds set by national tradition.
    The sweets are probably more varied and original than any other part of the programme—especially the cakes and pastries, including the Christmas and the Easter specialities, which form two quite distinct classes, with scores of items in each.
    The leading principle of Polish cooking is great liberality in the use of cream, butter, eggs, etc., such as is quite unheard of in England. Infinite attention to detail, a striving to produce a variety of flavours in every dish, and complete disregard of time and labour in imparting the finishing touch that crowns a