A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland

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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 Another strange inclusion is the 'bumpy romance' referenced on the blurb. Not only does this romance come across as a bit shallow and one-sided, but it serves absolutely no purpose in the storyline and is left completely unresolved. Why on earth did this feature so heavily in the final draft? And so much so that it even got put on the blurb! I couldn't help but cringe every moment the romance interest was mentioned by the author (a lot); and I can only hope the author got permission from the romance interest to publish her name and their interactions. 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 learnt that, on average, Poles would sooner fall to their knees and take a blow to the head than hear a bad word said about pierogi.

I booked the cheapest flight to a place I’d never heard of – Poznan. When my mum urged me to be cautious and just go for the weekend, I shamelessly – and pompously – quoted Ezra Pound, who said that a glance is the enemy of vision, that a glance wouldn’t do, that if you’re going to go you ought to go properly. Why Poznan in Poland? Why not? Peeling potatoes and exploring the country Jollier times come though, when the author is welcomed by his flatmate Jenny at his family’s house at Christmas. There is an endearing custom in Poland of setting an extra place at the table in case a stranger turns up. This is maybe the message of the book; that the world would be a happier, healthier and better place if we all thought to lay a place for a hypothetical stranger. It’s an easy message to take, wrapped as it is, in many a witty turn of phrase.I have worked very hard gathering resources for others to use and coming up with new activities. Please ask permission before copying and please give appropriate credit. The copycatting is getting ridiculous and tiresome. Ben’s ability to laugh at himself shines out of this story. One of my favourite linguistic blunders in the book is when Ben tells a Polish acquaintance, ‘There isn’t much to see in Portsmouth, apart from the big pear’ (meaning an architectural feature, not a fruit). Aitken’s unabashed nature meant that he could partake in cultural immersion in Poland on a grand scale. 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.

Pitched somewhere between a travelogue and a memoir, A Chip Shop in Poznań adeptly balances personal ruminations on love, attraction, and friendship, with cultural evaluations that subvert British stereotypes of Polish citizens. One of Aitken’s most successful strategies is to highlight similarities over differences: ‘What do the Polish do at the seaside?’ he asks. ‘They stroll and play and read and build castles from sand, as others elsewhere’. Images previously embedded in my head of a grey and gloomy Poland were wiped out and replaced with colour, humour, a little suspense and a bit of an education, moving it higher up my list of ‘places to visit before I die’. 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. There are too many books I haven’t read, too many places I haven’t seen, too many memories I haven’t kept long enough.”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. WARNING: CONTAINS AN UNLIKELY IMMIGRANT, AN UNSUNG COUNTRY, A BUMPY ROMANCE, SEVERAL SHATTERED PRECONCEPTIONS, TRACES OF INSIGHT, A DOZEN NUNS AND A REFERENDUM. So, why Poland?’ Frankly, it’s one of those ‘How long’s a piece of string’ type questions? When Poles ask the question, do they assume that Poland is such a dirt-poor country with zero opportunities?

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. 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. Theresa May tells Polish people they are ‘welcome’ in UK – despite her routinely tough rhetoric on EU migration It surely takes a special kind of person and a very good writer to make peeling spuds and removing bones from cod interesting. Ben thinks of Marx, of word association and of Shakespeare when toiling at removing potato skins. He describes, in my favourite pun of the book, how the potato has become his ‘starch-enemy’.

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. The main purpose of this group is to travel the world through books, experiencing new authors and cultures along the way. Want to read about the world? We have close to 50,000 books cataloged by setting and more are added each week. It was littered with humour and so descriptive that I could easily believe I was already there alongside Ben (in between peeling spuds and boning cod) as he staked out the various towns, cities, pubs and bars, meeting the queerest and dearest of folks, eating the weirdest concoctions and experiencing all the wonderful and sometimes dangerous (female) encounters along the way. I particularly enjoyed Ben’s stint as an ESL teacher, having personally supported non English speaking students, I found his newly acquired skills and experiences familiar and hilarious!