Aleja wietnamskich barów na bazarze pod Stadionem Dziesięciolecia jako miejsce spotkań kultur i klas
Vietnamese Street Market Food Stalls as a Venue for the Meeting of Cultures and Classes

Summary/Abstract: Everyday activities such as eating and moving around in urban space are – apart from having their functional significance – also replete with hidden social and cultural content. Among other things, this includes manifesta-tions of position in the social hierarchy and class affiliation. Taking as an example the now defunct street mar-ket that was outside the stadium that has since been redeveloped into Warsaw’s National Stadium, I show how the presence and consumption of meals in places identified with the working class is used by higher classes to conduct a complex game serving to manifest their class identity and separateness.Free movement within the social space by representatives of the upper social classes goes back a long way, and is a typical practice of various locations in the western world. In connection with the ethnic differentia-tion that overlaps with class divisions, it also takes on a post-colonial character, although it can also be a mech-anism for the integration of society and the wearing away of differences and inequalities. Observations of social practices linked to the Vietnamese food stalls at the street market by the stadium show that this second scenario is taking place in Warsaw, and ‘authentically exotic’ food serves to emphasise community rather than highlight-ing distinction.

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