Christmas came early for us when the Edensor team decided to throw a Polish style Christmas Eve feast for this years' celebrations.

On 11th December, they enjoyed a Polish Christmas feast of Ryba Po Grecku and wished each other Wesołych Świąt!

Polish born Care Home Manager Sabina Mach and her sister Care Home Care Coordinator Lucja, with the help of Polish Care Coordinator Ewa Ruskowiak decided to treat their residents, fellow staff, residents from neighbouring Clacton Care home Kings Gate and Santa himself, to a traditional Polish Christmas Eve celebration cooking Ryba Po Grecku a Polish fish cooked Greek style. Also excited to be pitching in were the home’s domestic ladies; Barbara cooked Pierogi (dumplings with sour cabbage and mushrooms), and Barszcz (Polish beetroot soup with dumplings) while Stefania made a Polish cheesecake and Maria prepared vegetable salad.

Sabina Mach, Edensor Care Home Manager said, “At home in Poland, our main celebration takes place on Christmas Eve when families join together to enjoy a wonderful meal. We do not eat meat on the 24th of December but enjoy fish and vegetables, lots of sour cabbage and mushroom dishes and one of my favourites, beetroot soup with dumplings. We believe that the way you spend Christmas Eve is a preview of what you can expect the following year, so we avoid engaging in activities that you would not want to do all year long!”

Lucja Mach, Care Coordinator, Edensor Care Home said, “On Christmas Day our residents will have turkey with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding which we always thoroughly enjoy, but this year we wanted to share some of the food we would enjoy over the festive season in Poland.”

For families living in Poland, Christmas Eve is one of the most important holidays, and tradition heavily favours eating. The Polish take their festive food very seriously and one old tradition has it that a twelve dish Christmas Eve dinner is a must. The Christmas Eve dinner excludes meat and should comprise twelve distinct dishes in memory of the twelve Apostles. 

Edensor resident Desmond told us: “It was great fun trying Polish food at our party this year. My favourite dish was the fish  - I really enjoyed it!”