Hello everyone - Eileen here... Magdalena Mokrcyzki and I thought you might like this description we put together for some children at Clapham Terrace School. --------- SHOPPING - WARSAW - BETWEEN THE WARS In a large city like Warsaw every district would have it's own market. In the Mokotow district the market had stalls and kiosks as well. Kiosks sold newspapers, drinks and tobacco. The food and household goods were sold from stalls which could be dismantled. Young people today would be surprised to see live animals for sale. The R.S.P.C.A. (the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) would ban it now, condemning it as inhumane and cruel. Imagine buying your chicken on the hoof! Live poultry was often hung upside down with legs tied together. The housewife would carry the live fowl home, tucked under her arm or in a basket, often headfirst amongst other purchases. This guaranteed that her meat was always fresh. All women learned the art of basic butchery, decapitating, plucking and disembowelling the bird. Calves, pigs, goats and lambs were also available. Smaller animals were kept in sacks and those that were herded were put in small temporary enclosures or tethered to the stall. They couldn't run away because their legs were 'hobbled'. What fun when one escaped and ran amok amongst and around the stalls. People and produce scattered in all directions. Is there a Market Street or Market Place in your town? ================================ Eileen Pedley eped@warwick.ac.uk Moderator of "Granny's Kitchen" Project
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