{"id":7042,"date":"2025-10-02T19:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/language-tongue-taste-learn-polish-with-bigos-and-borscht\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T11:23:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T10:23:23","slug":"language-tongue-taste-learn-polish-with-bigos-and-borscht","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/language-tongue-taste-learn-polish-with-bigos-and-borscht\/","title":{"rendered":"Language, tongue, taste \u2013 learn Polish with bigos and borscht"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Polish, the word j\u0119zyk<\/em> (like the Latin lingua<\/em>) means both language and tongue. So anyone practicing the Polish language must also train their tongue \u2013 literally. And the tongue is used not only for articulating sounds but also for tasting. That\u2019s why this is about both \u2013 speaking and tasting \u2013 specifically, about the names of Polish dishes. <\/p>\n\n



Bigos \u2013 the Polish national dish with German roots<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Everyone knows bigos<\/strong>. It\u2019s one of the most traditional Polish dishes: cooked cabbage with meat or, in the vegetarian version, with mushrooms. Surprisingly, the word itself is not of Slavic origin. It comes from German \u2013 or more precisely, from a Germanic root. The word beigossen <\/em>was used in the 17th century and is related to the older term Beiguss<\/em> (sauce or gravy). <\/p>\n\n

Bigos is delicious, but in metaphors it\u2019s often used in a not-so-positive sense:<\/p>\n\n

    \n
  • \u201eMie\u0107 bigos w g\u0142owie\u201c<\/em> \u2013 \u201cTo have bigos in your head\u201d means not to be the brightest person.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \u201eNarobi\u0107 sobie bigosu\u201c <\/em>\u2013 \u201cTo make bigos for oneself\u201d means to get oneself into trouble.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

    Maybe that\u2019s because bigos mixes many ingredients together \u2013 a symbol of something delicious, yet wonderfully chaotic.<\/p>\n\n



    Barszcz \u2013 the soup in the colors of Poland<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

    If I had to name the most Polish of all soups, it would undoubtedly be barszcz \u2014 if only because it comes in two colors: white and red, the national colors of Poland. <\/p>\n\n

    Barszcz bia\u0142y<\/strong> is a sourdough soup, often served with pieces of sausage and boiled egg, either in or with bread.
    Barszcz czerwony<\/strong> is made from beetroot and served with small pierogi (uszka<\/em>), beans, or potatoes \u2013 or plain, as a drink.<\/p>\n\n

    The name barszcz<\/em> comes from Proto-Indo-European, where it meant \u201csomething sharp.\u201d Later, it referred to beets, and later still to a sour soup. The first step in preparing it is always fermentation \u2013 for barszcz bia\u0142y, that of sourdough; for barszcz czerwony, that of beets. <\/p>\n\n

    All the more interesting is the expression \u201etani jak barszcz\u201d \u2013 \u201ccheap as barszcz\u201d \u2013 even though making it is not that simple at all.<\/p>\n\n



    Chleb \u2013 more than just bread<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

    Chleb <\/strong>(bread) \u2013 the most essential food, the foundation. Yet the ancient Slavs supposedly didn\u2019t know bread; they ate roasted grain instead. They adopted it from their western neighbors \u2013 along with the name: hlaiba<\/em>, today\u2019s Laib<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n

    Bread in Poland is deeply rooted in both pagan and Christian traditions and appears in numerous proverbs and expressions:<\/p>\n\n

      \n
    • \u201e\u0141amiemy si\u0119 chlebem\u201c <\/em>\u2013 We share bread (a sign of community).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201eWitamy chlebem i sol\u0105\u201c <\/em>\u2013 We greet with bread and salt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201e\u017by\u0107 o chlebie i wodzie\u201c <\/em>\u2013 To live on bread and water \u2013 to have only the bare essentials.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201ePracowa\u0107 na chleb\u201c<\/em> \u2013 To work for bread \u2013 to earn one\u2019s living.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201eCi\u0119\u017cki kawa\u0142ek chleba\u201c<\/em> \u2013 A hard-earned piece of bread.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201eNie z jednego pieca chleb si\u0119 jad\u0142o\u201c <\/em>\u2013 One has eaten bread from many ovens \u2013 meaning, one has experienced a lot in life.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201eNie samym chlebem cz\u0142owiek \u017cyje\u201c<\/em> \u2013 Man does not live by bread alone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

      Hardly any other food in Polish carries as much meaning and symbolism as bread \u2013 a symbol of work, life, community, and faith.<\/p>\n\n

      While writing this article, I used the book \u201cJe\u015b\u0107!\u201d by Jerzy Bralczyk, Bosz, 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      In Polish, j\u0119zyk means both language and tongue \u2013 so you train both: speaking and tasting. A stroll through Polish cuisine shows how closely words, flavor, and culture are intertwined. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-the-language"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/po-polsku.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}