What could be found on the Upper Silesian table?

A few remarks on the culinary habits of Upper Silesians at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries

Abstract

The article presents Silesian culinary customs in the context of the cultural changes of the last few centuries. The author refers to the remarks of Norbert Elias, who illustrated these metamorphoses by describing
behaviour in everyday life, including culinary customs. This methodology is applied to the description of
regional cooking customs - the author postulates broadening the field of research and going beyond the
analysis of the Upper Silesian peasant’s behaviour only. He argues against the stereotype of identifying the
description of native cuisine with plebeian menus, citing, for example, the case of the cuisine of Prince
George Rudolf of Legnica, where the Swiss cookbook by Anna Wecker (1605) was used, the English menu
at the Pszczyna court of the Hochberg family, or the influence of the Schlesisches Kochbuch by Henrietta
Pelz on Silesian bourgeois cuisine at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. These examples lead the
author to conclude that Silesian cuisine was open to the transfer of culinary customs, a phenomenon he
interprets as a readiness to embrace cultural change by different social groups in the region.