"Poland - it's the new Provence of food"

Ah, pip, i beg to disagree...I appreciate that you know Quebec much better than I (although I did spend 5 months there in 1987), but as a place with some French influence, I would on the contrary expect it to have good food..

strange place for holidays back then.

Crossing the border I have to make a stop for Flaczki and Chicken at a Zajazd.
Tomatoes and cucumber have a taste unlike anywhere else. In the winter it is Flaczki, Bigos and Surówki.
Then I drop into a few bakerys to find the best place for cakes armed with a bottle of fresh milk.
Yummmmy!!!

Forget to say that person saying Poland is a new Provence was right! It has always been! BTW, Poles and Provencales are even using the same herbs!

Sure.. Even the weather is quite similar.. Only 12°c difference right now between Warsaw and Nice..

Hi! How can food (for instance) be compared in Poland and in Provence? Poland has heavy greasy food as suitable for cold climate wheras Provence has a light Mediterranean diet (a lot of vegetables and fruit, grown under the sun (= real taste, not like what is found in Polish stores), olive oil, fish, herbs (thyme and "romarin" used a lot) grown also locally used fresh and not dried like in Poland, hardly any pork, (mainly) goat-milk cheese, red wine..). Provençal cooking and way of eating are more similar to what is found in Northern Italy and has nothing in common with Poland. I know both Poland and Provence (I'm French).

Rather obvious that you have never actually eaten good Polish food, despite your attempts to claim that you associate with high society.

Polish food is not necessarily always greasy, but on average, it is more loaded with saturated fats than many other cuisines. Just look at the incidence of heart disease, high cholestorol etc in the country if you need to be convinced.

Below is a ranking of the world's top 10 cuisines as per CNN. Although I must admit that having American cuisine ranked #10 does cast a doubt on the credibility of the study!!

travel.cnn.com/explorations/eat/worlds-best-food-cultures-453528

Why? The US has some of the best food in the world, top class restaurants everywhere. Truly excellent diners, cafés, ethnic food etc. Dozens of michelin starred restaurants.

It's not all McDonalds and donuts.

Ah, if I only had a smoker..........the things we could do.

I agree, there are some excellent restaurants/eateries across the US, but most of them are not representative of a 'US cuisine'. Same as in London, where the quality and density of restaurants is among the best in the world, but that does not mean that british cuisine is one of the best (although it has definitely improved in the past 20 years.)

OK, but is that not the same more or less everywhere?

Plenty of cities renowned for their quality of restaurants - doesn't mean the average inhabitant doesn't eat garbage a lot of the time.

Plenty of Parisians I've encountered seem to live off fast & processed food for example.

I was reading my French cookbooks this evening, and when I looked at the ingredients I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, especially when reading fish recipes. Fresh fish is difficult, if not impossible, to find in Gdansk. When I show the book to my Polish friends they just tell me that it looks good but I won't find the ingredients for most dishes in Poland. The new Provence? Maybe when hell freezes over.

Can-you read with comprehension?
The thread OP do not say that Poland become French food haven but that Polish food is as good as food in the French Provence.

why so nasty. he is not off topic.

True, southern pork barbeque, biscuits and breakfast foods in dozens of varieties; Texas beef and beans along with the Tex-Mex blended dishes such as chili, various tortilla-wrapped entrees; New England chowders; Virginia hams; roasted corn' grilled salmon from the Pacific Northwest.........the choices abound.

he is as a matter of fact.
Also I don't think I have been nasty but to the point.


Wow

Which it isn't, as anyone who has been to Provence will confirm.

except now the food has changed in order to be mass produced. Gmo in everything, animals being pumped with hormones. The food of 10 or 20 years ago is not the same as today, and it is disgusting. They have even managed to feed corn to farmed fish.

It is sad and revolting how our animals are treated. I am not a vegetarian but the state and methods to which meat is produced makes me want to be one.

Poland used to have wonderful fresh meats, now that has changed too.

I just heard something how Poland is looking at becoming a major producer for kosher/halal meats because there is such a huge market for it. When that happens I will surely stop eating meat.

The way animals are slaughtered to be kasher/halal compliant is simply revolting...

Poland is not Provance and everybody knows it, however there are many new trends emerging when it comes to food, even though with mixed results. It is getting better, but it will take time.

Well, as someone pointed out earlier, just because an area can or has produced good recipes, doesn't mean there aren't those out there making poor food choices. Whether you are in Provence, Gdansk or Seattle, there is cuisine, good or bad according to taste. I enjoy a couple of restaurants here but have seen little that is new or different from elsewhere and that has been less than inspiring.

From an economic viewpoint, Poland may be making a good decision to supply halal meats to the growing Muslim segment of the European population. From the standpoint of cuisine though, halal meats never bowled me over. While I had a couple of excellent food dishes in the Middle East, the only meat that impressed me was the lamb. A couple of folks have told me the lamb here s excellent as well but we shall see.

I'm still looking for a Polish kitchen which will impress me but.........

Yes, and it can change quite quickly.. Just look at what happened in the UK . 30 years ago, it was difficult to have a decent meal in most parts of the country (unless one decide to opt for the "3 breakfast formula"!), now one can eat quite well almost anywhere in Blighty!

If you are in Warsaw a few of Magda Gessler's are nice. U kucharzy is good. I believe it is closing though.
The thing about Polish food is that it is comfort food. There is nothing light about it. Even the salads are swimming in mayo. Polish soups are amazing. There is a nice restaurant not far from Ikea in Janki, on Magdalenka. Ocywyzna (hope I spelled this right)

You must be talking about canned and processed foods only, the home cooked food in Poland tastes great, especially in the countryside. I dunno how much MSG is used in Poland but i'm sure it's more common here in the States, everything from snack foods to Asian take out.

Isn't that stuffed laced with vegeta and hence MSG?

No, it isn't. you apparently know nothing who can cook. My mom, aunties and friends never use vegeta. only natural spices. Polish vegetables, fruit and eggs that you can by in rynek taste 1000000000 times better than the ones in the UK.