Community -> Articles A taste of Poland (2007-08-21)
For many years Polish cuisine was perceived as boring, fatty and unhealthy. It was not in fashion to like Polish food. Everyone enjoyed eating French or Chinese specialties, whereas typical Polish pierogi were consumed rather reluctantly. Nowadays things have changed. People have discovered and appreciated Polish cuisine. Restaurants specializing in traditional cooking are mushrooming all over Poland’s cities. No matter if they remind cozy cottages or well-designed palace restaurants, they all try to serve both simple and more sophisticated, but always mouthwatering, regional dishes.
Polish history has exerted a strong influence on a traditional menu. You can find elements taken from the Lithuanian, Ukrainian or Belorussian cuisines in it. There are also many recipes of Jewish origin. Some Russian, German, Czech and Austrian influences are also recognizable. But even considering significant regional differences, the Polish cuisine should be called as distinct and internally coherent.
The most common ingredients used for preparing traditional dishes in Poland are sauerkraut, cucumbers, sour cream, mushrooms, beetrootsand different types of meat. Cooks also use many spices and herbs, especially marjoram, dill, pepper, nutmeg, caraway seeds and parsley. In the past beer and mead were traditionally served during meals. Nowadays this would rather be a shot of vodka, which is a matching addition to festive dishes and helps you to digest the food.
An excellent bread is undeniable a Polish specialty. It goes in many variants: white, wholemeal, brown, with prunes, poppy seed and others. Another thing that Poland is renowned for is a profusion of delicious smoked meats. A very popular throughout the world kielbasa (sausage) is made after secret recipes and smoked over juniper twigs, to which it owes its remarkable taste. The tourists in Poland really must try kielbasa mysliwska and kielbasa krakowska. Other delicacies like cured and smoked hams, poultry, pork and beef fillets are worth recommendation too.
The Polish national dish is bigos. It is made of brined cabbage with a variety of meats including smoked sausage and a handful of mushrooms. A vegetarian version of bigos is served at the Christmas Eve supper. Another traditional dish made from cabbage is golabki - the whole leaves rolled with meat and rice, served with tomatoes sauce. Also pierogi must be placed among the most important Polish meals. They are made from noodle dough, stuffed with minced meat, cottage cheese, chopped brined cabbage mixed with mushrooms or any kind of fruit, and boiled. Pierogi ruskie (the Russian pierogi) with a stuffing of cheese, potatoes and fried onion, are the most favourite in Poland. They are popular in Russia or Ukraine too, but they have different names there. In the past pierogi were cooked only on special occasions, e.g. holidays, and for each of them they varied in shape and stuffing. Nowadays they have their own holiday - a festival of pierogi, that has been organized annually in August since 2003. It takes place in Cracow, where you can taste the most unusual and exotic sorts of these dumplings.
A traditional type of dessert in Poland are pastries and cakes, most of them made from yeast dough, sprinkled with cinnamon, apple pieces or rhubarb cubes. The Polish doughnuts (paczki) with rose conserve, chocolate or marmalade are also very popular. Other favourites are Swiss-roll types with poppy seed (makowiec), apple pie (szarlotka), gingerbreads (piernik) and cheesecake (sernik).
To the most recognizable Polish tastes belongs also Zubrowka, known abroad as bison vodka. This brand is flavored with a grass blade from the Bialowieza Forest. Goldwasser is typical in Gdansk - a sort of vodka that contains specks of 22-carat gold. Popular are also sweet and thick cherry liqueurs.
Talking about the Polish cuisine you cannot leave milk bars (bar mleczny) unmentioned. It is a typical Polish kind of fast food restaurants. They were invented in the mid 1960s by the communist authorities. Their role was to offer cheap meals to people working in enterprises that had no official canteen. Until the late 1980s the meals served there were mostly vegetarian (especially when meat was rationed) and that is how their name originates. Currently almost every major city in Poland has at least one milk bar placed somewhere in the city centre. They are popular among pensioners, homeless people but also students and university professors. Owing to state subventions, the prices in milk bars are significantly lower than in any other bars or restaurants. And, what may be considered ironic, modern milk bars still serve traditional Polish meals, which take quite long to prepare.
The traditional Polish cuisine combines different tastes from many cooking cultures. It contains flavours of the Lithuanian forests, the sweet aroma of Jewish dishes served for Sabbath and elegant French tastes. Foreign influences competed for centuries in the Polish kitchen, which made the national meals more various. The strangers may find some of them, like sour cabbage, curdled milk or dried mushrooms, unusual or even exotic, but it only turns trying Polish meals into an unforgettable experience. The real secret of Polish cuisine is that all typical dishes are made of natural ingredients according to the old recipes. And the most important rule while cooking the Polish way is to put your heart into it.
For many years Polish cuisine was perceived as boring, fatty and unhealthy. It was not in fashion to like Polish food. Everyone enjoyed eating French or Chinese specialties, whereas typical Polish pierogi were consumed rather reluctantly. Nowadays things have changed. People have discovered and appreciated Polish cuisine. Restaurants specializing in traditional cooking are mushrooming all over Poland’s cities. No matter if they remind cozy cottages or well-designed palace restaurants, they all try to serve both simple and more sophisticated, but always mouthwatering, regional dishes. 
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A traditional type of dessert in Poland are pastries and cakes, most of them made from yeast dough, sprinkled with cinnamon, apple pieces or rhubarb cubes. The Polish doughnuts (
