Chapter 2: Pizza in Warsaw, Torte in Prague and Chapter 3: Make-up and other Crucial Questions Summary and Analysis

Jolanta, a Polish-English translator, accompanies Slavenka to a pizza place in Warsaw, a new sort of establishment in Poland. Things have changed and products from America are streaming in. Many respond by elevating their tastes, rather than eating more food. America brings the possibility of sophistication. Resisting food is also a luxury, as Slavenka learns as a child to eat everything placed in front of her as quickly as possible, because it will be taken away.

Slavenka travels to Prague and buys torte before dinner. Torte is not always to be found in Prague. A similar event occurs in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, with Slavenka's friend Evelina, as an assistant professor at the university there...