In my last post, there was a commenter by the handle “Sichuan Stodge-bomb”. That’s a running joke between me and the Tall Yellow Gweilo, because of the abounding Czech potato dumplings over the last week.

It’s also the first thing I talk about when people ask about the food in Prague. Because that’s where it begins. And ends.

Imagined best as a war ration, or a poor farmer’s way of making a potato go further, the potato dumpling—knedliky—is potato that has flour and egg added and worked into a dough.

Then it gets the bleeping flick boiled out of it.

The taste? How do I describe this. It’s death by potato, that’s what it is. And I love potato.

Right up till this trip, I’ve maintained that I love potato, no matter how it’s prepared.

I’m now sorely mistaken.

The boiled potato dough is served looking remarkably like potato—yellow, in oval flat slices. And it sits innocuously till you put some in your mouth, at which point your head bursts into flames because while your eyes said “potato”, your mouth is screaming “GLUTINOUS CHEWY BLAND LATEX”.

While I do believe this did start out as a necessity in slow harvest months for the agricultural folk—what better way to beat hunger than plug up your digestive system or kill your apetite before it starts, after all?—it has somehow turned into beloved Czech comfort food, showing up on countless plates in eating establishments both humble and upmarket.

Here’s a recipe if it sounds like your thing. For me, it may be the first time I’m passing on the potato.