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A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland

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The man behind me in the queue was speaking in Polish on the phone. He sounded more Polish than anyone I’d ever heard. When he finished the call, his son, who must have been nine or ten, turned to his father and said, “Ere dad, will yer ‘old me coat for a bit?” The boy sounded more English than anyone I’d ever heard. He sounded like a greengrocer from the east end of London. On the other hand, I also have to recognise that the author has done something that I could not even dream of achieving. He has successfully published his experiences, which is an incredible feat in itself. Writing any book is a challenge, but in my opinion, writing a non-fiction book is even more difficult; especially a memoir, where you are effectively the main character and therefore directly the subject for any criticism. I also admire that the author is so comfortable going up to people and just asking them questions, which is something I would certainly struggle with. This is something I think everyone should take into account when forming their critique of this book, and I would like to start by thanking the author for giving us a view into his time and experiences in Poland. Another point is that Aitken really got me wondering about whether I’ve immersed myself as much as I could have done in Polish culture. From exploring the Polish mountains to sampling and making traditional Polish dishes, there’s still so much for me to do in Poland. Food is at the heart of everything in a culture and Aitken respected that in Poland. When he wrote about his plans to make bigos , commonly known as “hunter’s stew”, I almost felt jealous. Not because I’m a stewy kind of guy, but rather because I’ve never really attempted to make any signature Polish dishes myself. I do wonder – have I immersed myself enough in Polish culture? I’ve been to lots of places. I’ve blessed food on Holy Saturday. However, I haven’t got too much to say about Polish food. The only consolation is – I love Gołąbki . These are cabbage leaves stuffed with spiced minced meat and rice. In 2016, Ben Aitken moved to Poland while he still could. It wasn’t love that took him but curiosity: he wanted to know what the Poles in the UK had left behind. He flew to a place he’d never heard of and then accepted a job in a chip shop on the minimum wage.

Overall, Aitken won’t amaze you with his polyglottal abilities. Nevertheless, there is a certain amount of charm to his self-deprecation and rudimentary approach to learning the basics of Polish. Ben’s journey to discover the relationship between Poland and Britain and why so many Poles were leaving home, which just happened to be during the year of the referendum, was so colourful and witty that I literally couldn’t wait to meet the next chapter. He intended to find out why so many Poles have been moving to the UK in recent years and what they were leaving behind. Taking a minimum wage job in a fish and chip shop, Aitken embedded himself in the ordinary lives of Polish people and gained surprising insights into their cultural traditions, social mores and political views.I personally started reading around the world in 2008. This venture has introduced me to far off lands, fresh viewpoints, and many new authors I might not have discovered otherwise. Here is a record of my travels since 2009: A Chip Shop in Poznań is author Ben Aitken’s memoir of his time working in a fish and chip shop in Poznań. Part memoir, part travelogue, A Chip Shop balances personal musings on love, attraction, and camaraderie, with heartfelt cultural impressions. Before long he was asking me, first shyly but then with confidence, what I thought of Messi, Ronaldo, Kane, Lewandowski, all that mob. I told the boy that a feather would tip the scales, and then asked him who he’d want to win if Poland played England at football. He looked at his dad, then at the floor, then at his dad, then turned to me and said: “I think I’d like it to be a draw.” ‘A Chip Shop in Poznan’ is Ben’s account of his year in Poland Writing is an attempt to be less dead,’ says Ben Aitken in his entertaining travelogue, A Chip Shop In Poznan: My Unlikely Year In Poland. His writing – as much as his lived experience – succeeds admirably in the attempt. I decided to move to Poland out of curiosity and boredom. Since the country joined the EU in 2004, about a million Poles have settled in Britain. I wanted to know what they were leaving behind. I was also tired of home. I wanted to uproot and replant myself. Moving to a former member of the communist bloc isn’t the only way to deal with a case of itchy feet, of course. But this was March 2016 and a referendum was in the diary, and so I thought I’d take advantage of my European mobility while I still had any, thought I’d exercise my freedom to move and work and love and learn in 20-odd countries before it was irrevocably lost.

Although things have moved on a bit since 2016 and the Polish ambassador is now urging Poles to leave the UK, it is still well worth reading this book as the writing is very good; so good in fact that I learnt a new word. I never knew Portsmouth could produce not only such big pears (sic) but also such good writers. Reading takes you places. Where in the world will your next book take you? If you love world literature, translated works, travel writing, or explorin Reading takes you places. Where in the world will your next book take you? If you love world literature, translated works, travel writing, or exploring the world through books, you have come to the right place! ATW80 began in 2009 as a challenge on TNBBC. The separate group was established in 2011. The author was not afraid to mix with the locals to understand their mentality a little better. For instance, chapter 12 highlights Aitken’s experiences roaming around Freedom Square in Poznań to hear people’s opinions on Brexit. Interestingly, opinion was split between those who like the EU for its money and those who thought the EU is just Germany. Theresa May tells Polish people they are ‘welcome’ in UK – despite her routinely tough rhetoric on EU migrationHaving said all this, there were several parts of the book that I really enjoyed. I liked the chapters in Krakow and Konin; and reading about Hubert's farm, Jerzy on the mountain, and Christmas with the Polish family was all very enjoyable. However, the author summed up his experience by stating that Poland was like anywhere else. Whilst I agree that the stereotypes of Poland we have in the UK are lazy and false, I actually believe Poland is not like anywhere else. I don't believe anywhere is like anywhere else. Poland has charming facets, strange quirks, and very alien customs (to me); but every day, I can find or learn something completely new. It is a unique country, as is the United Kingdom, and although there are things I don't like about either country, I love them both. Living here has changed the way I view both countries dramatically and I just wish the author had included more of his personal growth and more of the things that make Poland unique. I was disappointed that the book ended with barely any resolution and the quote of another author/poet in place of the author's own words.

Unfortunately, the content of the book is what I had the biggest problem with. To preface this section, I would like to make it clear that the blurb claims many things about the book which I find to be slightly deceptive. I believe in this case that it is the publisher who is more at fault, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt, in case it was tainted by false promises. One such promise is the quote on the front cover that claims this is 'One of the funniest books of the year'. It's perfectly fine for a memoir to not be funny and, for what it's worth, there were even a few funny moments. However, and I say this knowing humour is subjective, the contents of this book do not seem like they were designed to be funny. Traces of insight were also promised, but making vague statements and then alluding to some deeper meaning is not insightful, at least not to me. In fact, several of the promised elements of the book come in the last quarter, with little of the earlier content featuring on the advertisement. This may have to do with how the author comes across in the first half of the book...I can note several similarities between myself and the author. For example, we are close in age (I am a few years younger); we are from similar parts of the United Kingdom; and we have both experienced the 'reverse immigration' that is the focus of this book (I moved to Warsaw in 2020 for work). I feel that this gives me a unique position to offer my opinion on this work. My visualisation skills were working overtime when I pictured Aitken pounding “the surrounding streets … trying to identify the most likely house and practising my lines.” Aitken eventually found a house and the hosts somewhat gingerly welcomed him inside. Well, it’s up to you now to buy the book to find out what happened. But there is far more to the book than fish and chips. Ben has a brief spell in the improbably-named ‘Cream Tea School Of English’, a school for young Poles ‘whose parents want their children to leave the country as soon as possible’. Ben’s bumbling attempts at class control are touchingly comic; ‘I won’t name names’, he says, ‘but Lucas is almost certainly related to the devil. Olivia, on the other hand is devilish one moment and angelic the next … You can put Lucas in the cupboard and be done with it. But you can’t put Olivia in the cupboard and be done with it because she’ll turn into an angel in that cupboard and start to sob and bleat like a gorgeous cherub in the unfair dark.’ A Chip Shop in Poznań is an engaging romp through Polish culture, with a resonant political message of the importance of interacting with other cultures and preserving our ties with Europe. While Aitken unveils the gritty realities of life in Poland, he never fails to inject humour into his accounts, nor ignore the vibrant traditions of a country he comes to love.

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