A Chip Shop In Poznań by Ben Aitken

Author : Ben Aitken
Title : A Chip Shop In Poznań
Published : 2019
Publisher : Icon Books
Pages : 306
Genre : Travel / Autobiography

     Not many Brits move to Poland to work in a fish and chip shop. Fewer still come back wanting to be a Member of the European Parliament. 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. When he wasn't peeling potatoes he was on the road scratching the country's surface: he milked cows with a Eurosceptic farmer; missed the bus to Auschwitz; spent Christmas with complete strangers and went to Gdansk to learn how communism got the chop. By the year's end, he had a better sense of what the Poles had turned their backs on - southern mountains, northern beaches, dumplings! - and an uncanny ability to bone cod

     There is something about a well-written travel book that I do truly love. In time such as now when I don't have the ability to set my feet on foreign soil it allows me an escape. It is a genre of books that I read many but don't tend to review too often. In this regard, I'm not sure why. Anyway, for me this book did add a little something to the mix. It is not simply a book about going to live and travel in another country. The author also looks at what it means to be an immigrant in Europe at the moment. All to often people especially in England belittle and moan about why so many people choose to come and live in our country from parts unknown to them. But these same people never seem to ask themselves why would someone choose to pick up and leave everything the known and a language that is there own and go somewhere else?  

     When it comes to Ben Aitken he places his feet into the shoes of a great many British travel writers that have come before. For me, I greatly enjoy this fish out of water style. It seems to be something that these English writers do well. Along the way, we get to learn something of the places they go and have a few laughs usually at their expense as they try and sometimes fail to navigate a foreign land. Having been fortunate enough to spend some time in Poland some of what he said rang so true even in my short time there. But for me, he also opened my eyes to what it means to truly submerge your self into the polish culture and world. Because for me I think whilst reading about somewhere else is a great joy you can only really understand by being there and doing it. 

     Whilst for the most part this is a light-hearted look at an English man abroad he does attempt to try and look at the bigger picture not only about immigration but also in some ways what Brexit will mean not only for the British but the Poles in the future. And no matter what side of this partially thorny fence you come down on I feel too many lies were told sometimes with deadly conscience and what is to come is anyone's guess. But here I think he does his best to give a little balance to what is going on. For the most part, though he keeps things bumbling along. It is a book that I was happy to spend time with, almost like a friend has come back from traveling and is telling you about there adventures. It is also worth noting that unlike most Aitken choose to go to a part of Poland that would little register for most planning to travel there. For me, the tourist hotspots no matter the country tend to have a lot in common. You will see the same American shops and an embrace of familiar foods to eat. But at the end of the day what point is there in going somewhere else just to experience the familiar? I suppose I crave new and different, something to keep my brain moving forward and ever learning.

     So what is there left to say about this book? It was a fun trip to a place and people I sort of know.  Much Like Bryson and the others that have come before him, I think his aim is to provide some light-hearted insight into parts unknown possible to the reader. He also goes to show that most people unsurprisingly you will come across will generally be friendly and not all that different from your self. In a world that is determined at the moment to show us our differences, it's a nice thing to see a bit of unity. Its a book that I flew through fairly quickly and would be happy to recommend to you even if you have no intention of going I'm sure it will make you laugh.