Weekend Reading: The Pierogi Problem

Fabio Parasecoli, Agata Bachórz, and Mateusz Halawa.  The Pierogi Problem: Cosmopolitan Appetites and the Reinvention of Polish Food. University of California Press, 2025.  239 pages.

My esteemed NYU colleague, Fabio Parasecoli, is lead author with Polish colleagues on this food studies instant classic.

What, you might well ask, is the pierogi problem?

Most foreigners regard this stuffed dumpling as the sole Polish dish of note.  While for the majority of Poles this may not be an issue, a new category of food professionals, experts, and entrepreneurs has been trying to change this state of affairs.  We call them “tastemakers,” as their often-explicit intention is to transform their fellow citizens’ experience and evaluation of food, introducing new standards of quality and categories of judgment  Their ultimate goal is to improve Polish gastronomy and its image abroad, while establishing an autonomous and legitimate culinary field in which cultural values, economic priorities, and power positions are constantly negotiated. (p. 177)

In short, foreigners (us!) view Polish food as heavy, fatty, and bland—except for pierogi—whereas it’s really much better than that.  This book tells the story of how all this happened.

As for negotiation of power positions, see the Appendix, “Exploring Food in Poland: Literature and Autoethnographic Reflections,” in which the authors discuss their own hierarchical issues throughout the writing of this book.  Academic that I am, with my own experiences as a co-author which ranges from the impossible to joyful, I loved reading this professionally analyzed personal account.

Click here to watch a video of Fabio Parasecoli’s discussion with Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett about Polish food.