The Pocket Dog

Upon first arriving in Poland, my teammates and I made a very important cultural discovery...

Hot dogs here, for the most part, are served in pocket buns.

I know, I know. 

Some of you are probably asking, "What's the big deal? It's just a hotdog."

Some of you are probably saying, "Hot dogs are disgusting." And I would agree with you to a point. American hotdogs can be disgusting.

But Polish hot dogs (not kielbasa) ... and in a pocket bun = a magical experience.

For one, Polish hot dogs are very different from American hot dogs. Food is less processed over here. So, the hot dogs are just different. I don't know how to explain it, and I don't know how they are different. BUT they are different. 

Secondly, they serve their hotdogs in pocket buns (primarily at gas stations and movie theaters). But it's a thing here.

They put the ketchup and mustard into the pocket bun first, and then they put the hotdog in. And then bon appetite! 

It's a beautiful thing. 

However, some cultural blunders did occur during the purchase of one such hotdog. 

For one, I learned that if someone doesn't understand the word that you're saying because it's in a different language (in this case the word was "mustard"), then saying the word slower ("musssss tarrrrrd") does not mean that they will understand what you're saying.


I didn't realize that I kept repeating the word mustard slowly until Savannah told me so. We had a laugh about it later.  

Luckily, a man who understood English was kind enough to tell the clerk the word for "mustard" in Polish for me. I now know that "mustard" in Polish is "musztarda". There isn't a big difference in the word, but it's enough to confuse someone. So thank you kind Sir for translating! (I'm pretty sure he had a good laugh too.)

At least ketchup here is still pronounced like ketchup.

All in all, if you ever get the chance to come to Poland, do yourself a favor and try a hot dog in a pocket bun.