BY RAHUL D'SILVA

In print | Published April 28, 2005

Imagine a tiny Polish village that can’t be found on any map. In it lives an old Polish woman. She toils away making tons of kielbasa each week while her husband watches from over her shoulder. As Poland is a new EU member, the old lady is forced to sell the kielbasa on the black market because it won’t pass agricultural restrictions. It slowly makes its way across the Atlantic in the hold of a French shipping vessel, and winds up in a little Polish deli in Philadelphia. One day, in walks Martyna Pospieszalska, a junior at Swarthmore College. And so Kielbasafest is born.

Pospieszalska first thought of Kielbasafest last year. “It came to me in a dream,” said Pospieszalska. “We needed some kind of food for Worthstock, and when I found this great Polish deli on Allegheny Avenue in Philly, [kielbasa] seemed like the ideal complement.”

Kielbasa is the generic Polish word for sausage, and it is prepared in a variety of ways. It is generally made with different herbs and spices, and will be served at Kielbasafest along with fruits such as pineapples and assorted beverages. This year, 250 pounds of kielbasa have been ordered. “That’s lotsa sweet Polish lovin’, as long as it lasts,” Pospieszalska said. “It starts at 2:30 in the afternoon and goes until we run out of food.”

Martyna, who will be the Large Scale Events coordinator next year, hopes to make this a regular tradition at Swarthmore and plans to pass on the torch to another student. Reactions from previous attendees have been very positive. Rachel Corballis ‘07 said, “I went with a couple of friends. It was loads of fun.” And the reactions weren’t all this clean. “Just imagine Miguel Solano wearing nothing but red underwear and eating Polish sausage,” Adem Kader ‘06 quipped. "That’s what Kielbasafest is like."

And so, there you have it. Is Kielbasafest really about Miguel Solano in red underwear? Or is just about the sausage? Curious kielbasa consumers will just have to go to Kielbasafest and find out. It will be held outside Willets this Saturday afternoon at the same time as Worthstock in Worth Courtyard. For vegetarians, there will be tofurkey kielbasa.

“I just feel like this is my little Polish contribution to campus,” Pospieszalska said. So, go and fill your bellies with Polish culinary delights. Gorge yourselves silly on sausage goodness. Just don’t forget to save me a piece.

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