Food & Dring - Poland

Polish Bread Polish cuisine is a mix of Slavic culinary traditions. It is rich in meat, especially chicken and pork. Poland is known for its delicious bread: white, brown, whole meal, with raisins, prunes, sunflower, sesame seeds, and poppy seed. The country has a number of unique regional cuisines with regional differences in preparations and ingredients. In the north the favorite dish is fresh water fish. The Masurian kitchen is a combination of German, Russian and Polish influences. There are many local dishes as well, in Suwalszczyzna in the north-east where the best potato dishes are offered. The Western Poland is known for duck dishes. The cuisine shows strong influences of Austrian dishes, especially from Vienna. Popular desserts include cheesecake, topped with vanilla creme or chocolate is known as Viennese cheesecake (“sernik wiedenski”). Oscypki The central and east part of Poland is famous for “pierogi” (polish dumpings). The eastern cuisine is originated in Lwow. A typical dish is “kulebiak” made from yeast dough stuffed with cabbage, boiled rice, eggs and fish. It is served with Ukrainian-style borsch with plenty of vegetables and thickened with sour cream. At the foot of the Tatra Mountains - Podhale very popular are “oscypek” - a scheep's milk cheese and “kwaśnica”- sauerkraut.

Soup:

Barszcz: clear beetroot borscht
Botwinka: soup made of leaves and stems of young beetroot
Chłodnik: cold borscht starts with young beets chopped or boiled together with their leaves. When the soup is cooled it’s usually mixed with soured milk, kefir or yoghurt. Typically raw chopped vegetables like radishes or cucumbers are added, sometimes hard-boiled eggs as well
Flaczki: beef or pork tripe stew with marjoram served with wheat bun
Grochowa: pea soup, usually trick
Grzybowa: mushroom soup served with noodles
Jarzynowa: vegetable soup served with potatoes and pieces of meet
Kapusniak: cabbage soup served with potatoes and pieces of sausage
Krupnik: barley soup with many vegetables and pieces of meet
Ogórkowa: made of sour, salted cucumbers served with potatoes
Pomidorowa: tomato soup served with noodles or rice
Rosół: chicken or beef soup served with noodles
Żurek: soured rye flour served with meat (usually boiled with sausage or bacon)and potatoes

Main dishes:

Bigos: a traditional Polish stew made of sauerkraut and meat, sometimes mushrooms, usually served with bread
Dzik: wild boar
Fasolka po bretonsku: cannelini beans and sausage stew
Gołąbki: cabbage leaves stuffed with mince meat and rice
Golonka w piwie: pork knuckle in beer sauce
Indyk: turkey
Kaczka z jabłkami: duck with apples
Kaszanka: Polish blood sausage
Kasza gryczana ze skwarkami: buckwheat cereal with chopped onions and fried lard
Klopsiki: meat balls
Kotlet schabowy: pork chop
Kurczak: chicken
Pieczen cielca: roast veal
Pieczen wolowa: roast beef
Pieczen wieprzowa: roast pork
Pieczen z dzika: roast wild board
Pierogi: dumplings which might be filled with sauerkraut and mushrooms or meat or potatoes or sweet curd cheese with a touch of vanilla or blueberries or other fruit, such as cherries or strawberries or apples
Placki ziemniaczane: potato pancakes traditionally served with sour cream, however nowadays also with fruits or chocolate
Pyzy: potato dumplings served by themselves or stuffed with minced meat
Śledź w oleju: herring in oil with onion
Śledź w śmietanie: herring in sour cream
Zrazy zawijane: rolled fillets of veal in a spicy sauce

Drinks

Poles love to drink tea. It is usually served in glasses with a slice of lemon. Tea is never drunk with milk. Another most popular drink is coffee, which is served in a cup with milk and sugar.

Alcohol

Beer
Polish beer is almost always lager. There are a few popular brands such as: Żywiec Lech Warka Okocim Zubr Tyskie
Sometimes youths, girls in particular, drink beer mixed with fruit syrup (raspberry or blackcurrant) using a straw.
During wintertime in some pubs the “hot beer” is offered. It is sweetened with honey and served with cloves and cinnamon.

Wine
Polish people rather do not produce wine. Wines are imported mainly from the countries like: Hungary, Bulgaria, France, Spain, and Italy.

Vodka
Polish people like vodka, but please don’t believe in stereotypes, that they do drink everyday and really much. Nowadays more and more people drink beer.

Vodka is traditionally drunk neat from the short glass (50 ml) as a single gulp. Then people take a piece of snack: the herring or gherkin.

The most popular brand is Buffalo Vodka called “Żubrówka” with the characteristic bison label on the bottle. It has as a long blade of special grass in it, which gives the vodka a slight greenish shade and a special flavor. Buffalo Vodka is sometimes served as a drink mixed with apple juice.

The other top brands are:
Wyborowa Luksusowa Wisniowka Zoladkowa

It is also worth to mention about Goldwasser – known for flakes of real gold in it and mead – the oldest polish alcoholic drink characterizing delicate, sweet taste, made of honey.