I’ve lived here 12 years now, so there are obviously plenty of things about this country that I like, but I’m not a fan of Czech cuisine by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, sure, there are some good things. Fried cheese and hranolky never loses it’s appeal and a big, greasy klobasa is just the right thing, if it happens to be 3 o’clock in the morning and you’re blind drunk. I lived on those the first year
Kyselo
I was here but when I came back, as a meeting-going reformed alcoholic, I took one look at them and said “no.” Stone cold sober, they held no appeal whatsoever. I love a good řizek, but boiled potatoes are just bland. I like mashed potatoes with a good, thick gravy on them, or perhaps baked with a dollop of sour cream. Bramborak is just a waste. With so many fine, time tested ways to prepare the humble potato, why do Czech people latch on to the least appealing one and make it their national snack?
Then there are the soups. Czechs love their soups. To me, there are only two circumstances in which one should eat soup. The first is if you are down on your luck, or it is the end of the month and funds are temporarily low. Soup makes sense. The other circumstance is, of course, if you are ill. Soup is medicine.
But Czechs, my wife in particular, see this as a main course. She is from northern Bohemia, so there is a particular kind of soup she likes to make called Kyselo. I swear, this is the vilest, most disgusting food on the planet and I have traveled far and wide. The thing is, I like most of the ingredients. It’s basically a potato and mushroom soup. But it’s gross. And she spends hours making it and leaves a pile of dishes in the sink that it takes a half hour to clear. Dough gets passed through a sifter, and some ingredients get pre-fried.
I think this points up a basic difference in philosophy. Czech people seem to think that if you spend a lot of time and effort on something, that makes it good. As far as I’m concerned, if you want to make soup, boil some water, slice in some vegetables, maybe add a packet of bouillon and Bob’s your uncle.
Also, Czechs are really big on tradition. I’m sure the recipe for this soup hasn’t changed at all for the last 2 centuries.
Anyway, I’m glad we live in Prague. There are plenty of Chinese restaurants around and we recently discovered one with an all you can eat buffet. So, life is good.
www.gurukalehuru.com 
I eat just vegetables, a bit of fruit and lean meat, a little beans and brown rice, a little skim milk, Greek yogurt is good. I love German food but once a month is enough cholestral, fat and calories from that. Maybe you could bring home some favorite foods to add to the ‘soup’. When we lived in Oregon we loved making clam chowder, gumbo, jumbolayea, as well as hot buttered rums during rainy winters. Potatos in cheese soup with sausage added is good….or….just go out to eat and skip doing dishes.
Czech food has some similarities to German food, of course, they border. Lots of meat, potatoes and sauerkraut. Sausages are a big element of Czech cuisine, but not as dominant as in German or Polish cuisine.
I’ve definitely put on a few pounds since living here. 😦
Absolutely bang on! The Czechs (I’ve been married to one for years) seem to have a blind pride in much that they do and I’ve recently been trying to understand it. Napoleon complex? Small.country syndrome? Post communist pride. Whatever it is, I find it baffling and quite frustrating. The propagandistic, low budget shit they serve up every Christmas on TV and appear to devour it: completely escapes me.