I'd say the first distinction that needs to be made is between meals on working and free days.
Free days can have up to five meals (a couple of them light, but still...).
breakfast - bread and sausage/lunch meat, maybe cheese or eggs, tomatoes or 'milk soup' (sort of like oatmeal but thinner and usually not oats), cofee and/or tea
second breakfast - late morning to noon (optional especially if the first first breakfast was heavy) - light, maybe an open faced sandwich and tea
dinner - early to mid afternoon, usually soup course, followed by meat and starch and salad all served together, may or may not be served with anything to drink (this can take some getting used to for some foreigners). may be followed by light desert, but usually people prefer sweet things separate from the main meal and will have
after dinner snack - cake and coffee in late afternoon
supper - a lot like breakfast (more likely tea than coffee to drink)
the main meals are breakfast (when you get up) dinner (mid-afternoon) supper (early to mid evening)
People adapt this to working days in different ways. A lot depends on when the day begins and ends and plans of other family members.
Breakfast is not much affected usually and the ideal is to have dinner together as early as everyone's home (if at all possible). Second breakfast might become a bit bigger and some workplaces might offer full meals around the middle of the day and supper is liable to not happen if dinner is around 6 or so.
The concept of lanczyk is relatively new in Poland and most popular amongst the japiszony. Traditonal Polish eating patterns comprise:
-- A hearty breakfast (śniadanie) of cheese, coldcuts, eggs, bread, butter, perhaps jam or honey, tea or coffee, sometimes milk soups in winter - eaten between rising and leaving the home for school or work
-- A lighter second breakfast (drugie śnadanie) (10-11 am) eaten at school or work (similar to the American 'bag lunch'), usually a sammy, fruit, biscuit or cake.
-- NO LUNCH
-- A full dinner (obiad) between 2 nad 5 pm - usually 3 courses: soup, main course (meat, potatoes & veggie are typical) and dessert - this is the main meal of the day.
-- Supper (kolacja), a lighter meal (6-8 pm) in many cases simialr to the first breakfast -- cold cuts, cheese, eggs, possibly pancakes.
Polish TV dialogue translators say 'romantyczna kolacja dla dwojga przy świecach' when the Hollywood film speaks of a 'romantic dinner for two by candlelight'.
Wine is rarely drunk with meals in ordinary Polish homes except on special occasions such as dinner parties (proszony obiad). This might be more common amongst upscale types who constitute only a fraction of Polish society.
This might be more common amongst upscale types who constitute only a fraction of Polish society.
The pretentious types, you mean. There is one exception when all Poles are one of the sudden wine lovers - international flights. We are willing to trade in Jesus for Dionysus as long we get that glass of wine.
many Poles like a standard 7-3 or 8-4 working day and choose to just eat something cold at their desk.
I see this as a difference between Ireland and Poland. People here in Poland start earlier, have shorter lunches and earlier finishes comparatively IMO.
It looks like most of the people in this thread talk about Polish lunch traditions form the early XX century in the countryside. I'd like to offer a contemporary answer.
As a person living in Poland and working in a publishing company in Warsaw, Poland, I would say that Polish usually have breakfast before work at home (yogurt with muesli, sandwiches made of good Polish bread, rye bread is quite popular, try it, you'll love it, farmer cheese, eggs etc.) or at one of the coffee-shops which are mushrooming all around large cities in Poland. At work there is usually a lunch-break (30 minutes- 1 hour). Most of the companies have cafeterias, but whether you actually sit for a lunch or grab a sandwich depends on the industry. My friends working for big banks or consulting companies usually have a sandwich in front of the computer.
Having said that, if you can have a sit-down lunch the most popular dishes right now are: Polish style pork schnitzel with potatoes and a side salad (kotlet schabowy), grilled chicken with side salad, salads, sandwiches, roasted pork, pasta, Polish style pancakes with farmer cheese, pirogies (Polish dumplings), grilled or battered fish. Good coffee is also valued very high, especially accompanied by a cookie, chocolate or a cake (Polish style cheesecake, chocolate cake, fresh fruit cake etc. - we love pastry).
The sausage that someone else mentioned is mostly a working class cheap food, I've only seen construction workers having sausage for lunch. I mean, it is just to hearty.
After work, Polish tend to have a dinner, but most of the educated people who work for the big companies, government, non-profits, middle businesses etc. work really crazy hours (as the economy has developed really rapidly in the past two decades). Most of the people I know usualy don;t have a time for a proper, traditional style dinner.
