There is a lot of very good food in Poland, and I was fortunate to taste a wide variety of that food during my two weeks there.
First, I already wrote about the breakfasts we had, called Śniadanie. You can read more about that here. But each day of our tour, we also had either Lunch or Dinner somewhere as a part of the tour package. Now I will admit that the distinction between lunch and dinner was mostly lost on me, because all of our “second” meals of the day (after Śniadanie) were rather nice. And lunch was sometimes as late as 5 PM while dinner was occasionally as early as maybe 6 PM. So I can’t really explain the difference. All i know is that, in general, the food was very good. And I certainly did not starve at all.
I have posted a number of food and dining photos on my web site here. I am not going to write about them day by day here, I already covered most of the meals in my blog on the individual days. But I have some general comments on the food I had in Poland
First of all, in general, I think we all agreed that all of our meals were good. There was maybe one or two that were just mediocre, and a number that were exceptional, but we never had a really bad meal. More often, the food was very good, and I tried a few new things as well as enjoyed a lot of different takes on food I’ve had before.
Pierogi — I imagine that pierogi are the one food that a person thinks about when they think about Polish food. And fortunately, we had an adequate supply of pierogi. The typical stuffings were saurkraut and mushroom and potato and cheese, though we also enjoyed some with mushrooms, some with cheese, some with meat, and yet others, called ruskie, and filled with cheese, onions, and potato. We had them boiled and fried, and often topped with fried onions. I loved them all. I do not believe there is any such thing as a bad pierogi–only good, better, and even more betterer….if that’s a word. I liked every pierogi I had, though at times, the portions were overwhelming. They were all very good. I will single out what I thought was the very best pierogi I had, and that was at a non-organized dinner at a restauracja in Wrocław named Karczma Lwowska–it was fantastic. The best part of the pierogi here was the dough….it seemed very rustic and authentic. They were absolutely fantastic. Of course, I had great pierogi at a number of places. There is no such thing as a bad pierogi!
Smalec — We had smalec at a number of places, it appears somewhat common. What is it? Well, basically it’s pork fat. But more than that, it’s pork that has been cooked down. Think bacon fat to some degree. Sometimes cooked with other things like onion. It’s very rich and very creamy and, I’m sure, very fattening. But did I mention the distinct lack of obesity in Poland? They eat this sort of thing and remain skinny. Perhaps there’s somethign in the air…. Anyway, many a time we used smalec on our bread and it was truly wonderful.
Zupa — We had several wonderful soups when in Poland. I am hard pressed to pick a favorite. Some of the żurek we had was truly exceptional–a soured rye starter is used as a base with Polish sausage, mushroom, boiled eggs, and other elements. We also had great barszcz–beet soup. Truly another favorite of mine. And of course, nothing can be Polish mushrooms–grzyby–perphaps this was the best soup of all, because we cannot get these same mushrooms in the USA. Truly fantastic!
Bigos — We had some very good bigos as well–hunter stew–full of various meats, mushrooms, onions, cabbage, and sauerkraut. A real treat!
Gołųbki — No visit to Poland would be complete without gołųbki, and we had some that was excellent!
Krupnik — This honey and spice flavored alchohol-based drink was also fantastic. One or two night, I had a bit of this in the hotel bar before I went to bed–it sure made for good sleeping!
Chleb — We had some very good bread when in Poland. None of this “wonder white bread” stuff there! No, we often had a nice assortment of whole-grain breads, often served with the first course (soup) and often removed after that course as well. Usually served with smalec, often with masło as well. I did notice some margarine at breakfasts, but never at our main meals.
Cukier — As Americans, we often had kawa at the ends of our meals, though most Poles would, I think, have herbata, or tea. But one thing I never saw: yellow or pink or blue packets of “sweetener.” Yes, only real sugar appears to be in use. Oh, and have I mentioned the lack of overweight people in Poland. I guess they don’t need to worry about calories as much as us Americans do.
Meats — I ate a variety of meats–and some fish–when in Poland. We had great pork, chicken, beef, and who knows what else. I can’t think of one meal that was not good and tasty, some better than others. I did have some head cheese at one meal. OK, the taste was very good, but I could not get out of my mind what it was and the texture. Again, the taste was great, it was just the mental picture of what it was that kept me in check from really loving it.
Salads — Typical American “lettuce” salads were not very commmon, but we commonly had a trio of vegetable salads for our meal. Teh most common ingredientds were beets, celery root, carrots, and cabbage (red and green), with a nice compliment of tomatoes, onions, and other savory flavors. We really did have some excellent salads. Again, read my daily blog posts for more about some of these.
Ser — There was a lot of cheese evident as well, though it was more common for breakfast. But a wide variety of cheese, from fresh, new cheese (like cream cheese) to some a bit more aged. And of course, osćypek, especially in the Zakopane area. Apparently my great love of good cheese is an inherited trait!
Ziemnaki — Potatoes are a real staple in Poland, and they were a part of many of our meals in some way. Sometimes it was just plain ole potatoes. Other times we had pyży or kopytky, but they were often an element of our meal. And oh so good.
Conclusion — Well, I had some excellent food in Poland. As more memories rise to the surface, I’ll be sure to include them here. But in the meantime, if you have a chance to try any Polish food, I suggest you grab it–it’s the best food in all the world!
