Generally, a man, who has lived abroad for longer time, usually finds out that he lacks some food or ingredient, which he would otherwise get on every corner in his native country, but in a foreign country there is no rumour or even hearing about it. In England, I somehow got used to the fact that poppy seeds are considered as dangerous drugs, the proper bread could be found in a Polish shop, cheese selection was a little bit limited and the overall problem was to find anything not low fat. However, on the other hand, I started eating more vegetables and fish and I learned to use the Chinese soy sauce, garlic and ginger in my kitchen. In Bavaria, the problem with bread and cheese disappeared and poppy pies, buns or plum cakes are common. Curd is good, although we haven’t found the lumpy curd like the slovak one. We still only dream about bryndza, but maybe we will find something similar in the local sheep farms.
The only thing I honestly missed was the traditional dumpling and so far I have been reconciled with the fact that I need to learn how to prepare it by myself. But I suddenly (I was looking for pastry) found it in the shop. Additionally, I also saw steamed buns laying right next to it. They were filled with plum jam accompanied by the packet of poppy seeds for sprinkling. I really needed to lean on the cooling box and breath deeply :). We immediately took the dumpling and made sauerkraut at home and I realised how little is needed to happiness.