Book excerpt: This book acquaints readers with traditional Polish foods associated with various occasions and furnished countless cooking tips and serving suggestions. The clearly written recipes facilitate the preparation of the dishes and their incorporation in the Polish-American mainstream culture. Calendar of Polish Festivities is devoted to those holidays and events connected to a specific time of year. Polish Rites of Passage focuses on life's milestones -- the family occasions that take place at various times of year. This "instruction manual for the culturally aware Polish American" offers over 400 recipes, along with a lexicon of basic foods and culinary concepts, ingredients and procedures, and sample menus.