Fried cheese has outlived socialism. Some restaurants serve it as the only vegetari-an meal. (source: Kuchárska kniha, Ľudmila Dullová-Horecká - Libor Vozár, vydavateľstvo Osveta, 1983) )
Friends and relatives in western Europe often seem reluctant to believe my positive reports from Slovakia.
Take summer. That it is reliably – sometimes oppressively – hot here from June to September seems not to compute with a popular western image of eastern Europe as somehow eternally snowbound.
Much of Slovakia has been basking in a heatwave since early June. Britain meanwhile has been suffering from storms, floods and temperatures that have struggled to reach double figures.
Yet when I tell relatives in the UK that you could now sleep here with all the windows open – were it not for the current tropical plague of mosquitoes – all I get is an ‘Oh yeah?’
Dining out
A similar level of disbelief greets reports that Slovaks typically dine out on a hearty two-course meal every weekday lunchtime (most Brits are reduced to gulping down a supermarket sandwich at their desk).
In fact, ‘dine out’ is to over-sell the experience very slightly. Most Slovak lunchtime meals are obtained at what is effectively a self-service canteen, or jedáleň.
