What
are pierogi?
Alright, there’s a chance
I’ve gone overboard with the Ps in that headline. Yet ever since I wrote P-p-p-p-p-p-pick up
a pepper all those years ago, I’ve been itching to let
my little finger get another chance at glory on the keyboard.
Pierogi provided one of the purest pleasures (OK I’ll stop now.
I’m starting to get on my own nerves…) that travel can produce: a brand new
experience.
Plural for pieróg, these
crescent-shaped dumplings are practically Poland’s national dish. Made from unleavened dough, they’re
first boiled and then baked or fried and contain a lucky dip of fillings:
oozing sweet-sour cheese, tangy cabbage or sauerkraut, slightly spiced meat,
potato or more.
They’ve got that perfect
blend of comfort food without
the weight of stodge. Plus, they have the element of surprise as you never know
which one you’re going to get. And finally? They come have a wonderful range of
trivia.
Did you know, for example, that pierogi have their own saint?
(St Hyacinth, or Swiety Jacek, in case that piece of life knowledge passed you
by. It’s used in an expression to mean “good grief!”)
And how about this: the Proto-Slavic root “pir” means festivity
in its various Slavic cognates across Eurasia?
And this: the words in that last sentence actually mean
something to some people?!
Yes, a pieróg is no ordinary dumpling.
It’s a delicious, soft, tangy, crispy treat of a dish. And I
only wish I’d heard of it sooner.
