Let Them Eat Ciasto - Polish hospitality

The Poles have a terrible sweet tooth. Terribly tempting that is. Baking is not my strong point in the kitchen (it took me six attempts to make gingerbread Pierniki and even then they tasted, being honest, quite disgusting). But no matter as it's a statistical fact that in Poland 1 in every 3 shops is either a flower or cake shop. A visit to any Polish home is never complete without needing to offer flowers and being offered in return cakes or sweet things. Lavish hospitality in my experience is a much greater social norm than in the UK and truly reflects the Polish saying, "Gosc w dom, Bog w dom" - "A guest in the home is God in the home." Make sure you turn up hungry to a Polish home or you'll leave suffering acute indigestion - you can trust me on that one.

As I munch my way through various different cakes this year I'll be sure to bring you a digest on each one.

Above: a typical Polish party set up and ready to roll. Mnaim