Vegetarian food in Poland?

I don't know about "Green Way" but I can eat a full dinner with drinks in "Vega" for 25PLN.
But for a delicious mixed salads (4) and a drink for a 10 Zloty and that would fill you any other time of the day no problem.

Vegetables are cheap and delicious here.

It is easy enough being a vege here, prepared soya bits are sooo cheap in he shops, about 3:50 Zloty a pack, marinate over night, lovely, you can batter them in bread crumbs too.

what kind of stores sell this stuff? my only problem is we may be flying into wroclaw and not taking the train from warsaw, so i may not have the luxury of looking for fake meat stuff :(

Carrefour.


You'll be fine.

does that soy vita have eggs in it?

"Sante" says, on their web page, there's only soya meal and water in it. Not GM.
18-20 pcs per pack. You just have to soak it for 4 (Kotlety Sojowe Minutki ) or 10 (Kotlety Sojowe „a’la schabowe”) min. in hot veg stock/broth.

Same company make soy pate soy drinks and so on. According to Santo's www the only product with eggs in it: cakes (Kruche ciastka Dietto Sport & Fitness).

Have a look an www in english w w w.sante.pl/business.php
Have fun in Wroclaw :)

i won't be staying in wroclaw, just landing there, then we're heading off to Porajow where we'll be staying. luckily, people have told me Bogatynia has at least 3 big supermarket chains there, so i'm so happy about that. :)

One of the most difficult times to find vege food is on the road, petrol stations sometimes have sandwitches and seldom have vege sandwitches.
But a little preparation and you can prepare your own.
It happenes often to me.

I can bearly see the keyboard, it is in cirilic too and faided.

Greenway is much tastier and not more costly than Vega. However, don't advertise your vegetarian views too much, especially in smaller Polish towns. People expect you to be like them: stuff your face with lard and vodka and go to church every day. I was given agressive, heavy stares when I wore Indian attire - and that was in the middle of Warsaw, not some obscure village where they believe the world is flat and Catholic.

I was told by my Polish veg friends that Greenway cooks their food at a cental location where they also cook nonveg food and that the owner himself is not veggie. Maybe not important for some veg people but for me it is...


cmon now what did you expect? That people wouldn't take notice? There are not so many foreigners in Poland even in Warsaw let alone foreigners wearing traditional clothes.

You are not


Where abouts is that one?.
I will give it a try.


HHhhmmm... not advertising your vegetarian views too much is advisable anyway.
"too much" is in excess, overly doing something, hence my crazy reply.
I am not vegetarian to preach and I see you are not vegetarian and preach, ah well.


This is unfair and quite aggressive in it's own right.
I would expect to be looked at for wearing traditional dress from the other side of the world, in any country, city or town that were not used to it.

It reads like you wore your Indian attire in the hope to get a reaction.

The Greenway I dined at was in the old town of Bydgoszcz. Nice service from a Thai-LOOKING young lady, actually from Kazakhstan and she speaks English. The food smells nice even as you pass by - garlicky. A good sign. As for my wearing Indian dress in Warsaw, I didn't have much choice. I had my Western clothes pinched at the Sai Baba ashram in India by a one-armed Russian (did he travel via Arab countries and behave the same way??? - CCHHOPPP!!). Per-lease don't expect me to walk around starkers from Mumbai to Warszawa. I've no info how Greenway prepare or get their food. I've no complaints so far. I agree, however, that its boss may not be veggie; that's to be expected. For him it's only a business as he stuffs his mug on lard (TTHHUDDD!!) and vodka, chainsmokes and goes to church every bloody day of his life.

i don't advertise it all even living in toronto canada, one of the most veggie friendly cities in the world, next to new york and portland i think. i don't like being preached to, so i don't do it to others. even if someone starts spewing their shit why i should eat meat or this and that, i just smile and say "uh huh", they can't argue if i don't participate hehe

i'm going to porajów, population, 2,500 hahaha ... that small enough for ya? ;) ... it's gonna be too funny seeing how my family responds to my actions when it comes to meat and church. i'm vegan and agnostic, going to a small town in poland without eating meat or going to church (during easter is when we're going btw too), who wants to place bets how it's gonna turn out? haha

i think my family may be that odd polish family that is really accepting of how the kids think though, because the day i said "i'm not gonna eat meat anymore" my mom was like "ok", i kid you not, no comment or concern what so ever, she just lets me be.

Would it be a consolation to know the meat comes from vegetarian animals?

I am vegetarian and Atheist and i live in a small place in Poland.
I don't tell people I am Atheist, no reason to and the vegetarian thing is strange for most people and it is quite funny when they sometimes try to argue with me.

But I don't argue back, it is not for me to tell people how to live their lives.
I think vegetarianism never enters some people's minds, just not aware of it, like I wasn't.
There is a risk when arguing about being a vegetarian that you appear to be judging other people.
I have met some incredibly stupid vegetarians who do this, or at least seem to do this.
But people are slightly more understanding because i am a foreigner and therefore do things differently ha ha ha

foreigner? where abouts from?

You realize you'll go to Hell for eternity.
They only serve meat there. Rare too.

Me?.
If this question is directed at me, I am Irish from Dublin.
But i live in Poland.
St. Patrick's day tomorrow :)
yes i know, i am an Atheist but I like St. Pat's day.

i went to christmas with a polish girl to her family in a small town and they were really cool about the whole veg thing. of course it was christmas eve but even on christmas day there was food for me to eat and nobody even made any thing of me being veggie. Its a personal choice and I dont preach either. nothing more irritating than a whiny preachy veggie. live and let live. lead through example. actions speak louder than words

Depending on the area of Poland meat is not allowed on Christmas Eve. Neither is any kind of alcohol. There are plenty of great Polish vegetarian recipes and vegetarian cuisine, while certainly not mainstream, is not anything exotic in Poland.

On Xmas Eve it's all fish, and the animals are, according to folk lore, supposed to speak. The word "mercy" and "goodwill to all sentient creatures" comes to mind.

Polish cuisine is full of vegetarian dishes. You may also transfer some original, non-vegetarian recipies into vegetarian.

For example, you may replace meat and saussage (kielbasa) in bigos (sauerkraut stew) with smoked tofu and dried soy protein. Put some more smoked plums in it as well, and you'll get a very tasty vegetarian bigos.

Pierogi don't have to be stuffed with meat - there are plenty of vegetarian stuffings (quark, onion & potatoes - ruskie pierogi, buckwheat groats, onion & quark - pierogi z kasza gryczana, sweet cheese curds - pierogi z serem, strawberries - pierogi z truskawkami, blueberries - pierogi z jagodami, wild mushrooms & cabbage - pierogi z kapusta i grzybami, lentiles - pierogi z soczewica, and many many more...). But be careful when you take pierogi in a restaurant - make a note that you like it to be served without any lard, only with onion, or just saute!

The same as pierogi are different types of dumplings. We have different types of potatoe dumplings:szare kluski (served with cabbage stew (z kapustą), or with quark (z serem)), pyzy served with fried onion (be careful - sometimes they are stuffed with meat! if so it would be called pyzy z miesem), kopytka (served with different sauces or just melted butter), kluski slaskie (Silesian dumplings), knedle (similar name, but different dish from Czech knedliky - Polish knedle are stuffed with a strawberry or half of plum). There are also quark dumplings - leniwe pierogi, served ussualy as a sweet dish, with sugar and sour cream.

Other Polish tasty dish is groats. We have different types of groats. They are served with meat stews, but you can eat it with some boiled vegetables, some soy or tofu things, or even with a fried egg (jajko sadzone) and fresh vegetables. This kind of food you can find especially in some original fast-food restaurants called Milk Bar (Bar Mleczny - very cheap restaurant, offering variety of traditional dishes, some of them vegetarian). There you can take for example buckwheat groats (kasza gryczana) or potatoes (ziemniaki) with an egg (jajko sadzone) and fresh vegetables/salad mix (bukiet jarzyn or zestaw surowek).

In the South (Lesser Poland, Tatry and Beskidy mountains) you can find fried cheese (smazony ser) or grilled oscypek cheese with cranberries (grilowany oscypek z zurawina). In the East you can find bliny pancakes and some pies or even saussage made of grated potatoes and onions (but be careful - they may contain lard as well).

Well, there are more, but my fingers are aching of typing Polish vegetarian dishes. There are soups, salads, egg dishes, beans, and many, many more... Don't let other people tell you Polish cuisine and Poland itself aren't vege-friendly. :)

Good post casper99, thanks.

WTF?


You mean, without lard?


Now, that makes more sense...

I would not recommend to 'convert' bigos to a vegetarian dish or serve szare kluski without lard or meat sauce. No, really... When I image pieces of tofu melting in bigos, it's just horrible...

While spoil meat dishes with surrogates? The taste of good bigos mostly depends on meat, so you simply can't make bigos on tofu. It's like replacing the sauerkraut in bigos with something else. It won't be bigos, any more.

Or some dried soya protein... it sounds not like food but like some ersatz. And taste like that, too. All those soya chunks, soya pâté and stuff - it's awful. I think some vegetarians are a bit masochistic. Those meat dishes with soya equivalents have taste and texture of toilet paper, and it's so conspicuous, that they are an impoverished versions of other dishes. Why eat that stuff while there is an alternative? There's a lot of stuff you can do with beans, lentils, chickpeas etc. with a full, rich taste, which was never meant to contain meat, so tastes great without it. A vegetarian doesn't have to eat processed soya, because there are tastier and more natural sources of proteins. And, btw, these are the cheapest sources of proteins in the market.

Coming back to the bigos issue: don't make it with tofu! It's a goddamn profanation. Bigos is not for vegetarians - accept it and get some normal vegetarian meals.