I have always thought of myself as the very model of a model European. Both sets of my grandparents were diplomats who lived and worked all over Europe and the world, and spoke several languages. My father grew up in Lyon, where he learned to appreciate good food and wine. Even more, he considered western European culture superior to his native Polish.
When he taught himself to cook, our family dinners included more French and Italian dishes, such as beef bourguignon, lasagne and chicken marengo, than Polish pierogi or kotlet schabowy, although my mum still made traditional food sometimes, particularly at special occasions such as Christmas and Easter. As a child, she spent eight years in The Hague, where she attended an American school. Both of my parents spoke French and English from a young age alongside Polish, and then picked up German when they moved to Cologne for a fellowship with the Humboldt Foundation with a three-year-old me in tow.
