What Polish foods and brands do you miss when you go to other countries?

I've never seen, in any restaurant in Poland, bigos as a side dish. Never. It is the main course.

Maybe some other Poles will chip in and write aboit their expiriences
Oh and bigos and potatoes is common but never with extra meat or something similar. Bigos works as the portion of meat

Me neither, not even in Polish restaurant's in England.
Even potatoes on top is too much for me!
Bigos is a meal in itself, only Americans would want more :-)

Roughly one third to a half of the ingredients in bigos is meat/sausage so why would you serve it with meat?
I have never seen it served with meat.
At home we have it served on its own or with some bread.
I have had it served with potatoes once (on a youth camp years ago ) but I didn't like it.

Btw, it's summer so chłodnik is a better idea.

What I missed living abroad was these seasonal fruit and veggies that appear in summer like strawberries, czeresnie cherries, broad beans, new potatoes, regular cherries, plums.

Maybe he's confusing it with regular sauerkraut or sauerkraut with bits of pork or something?

IME bigos is something people only have a couple times of year now, usually for holidays and it's a whole meal served with bread (maybe potatoes).

I do sometimes have it for breakfast - I don't mean making it from scratch but if I am driving somewhere early on a winter morning and there is some in the fridge I will have it - its filling and healthy (kind of - it has vegetables) and will keep you going for a few hours.

At home or with relatives it is always served on it's own with a basket of bread in the middle of the table, should anyone want some.

Personally I only use the bread to mop up my plate :-)

That's why I suggested the kapusta zasmażana. Especially in Silesia a very popular side dish .

I love it with bread. And this conversation really made me bigos hungry :)

@ Kaprys - I was never a fan of chlodnik. Deffinately not my cup of tea

I really like chłodnik on hot days.
And at this time of the year also young cabbage with dill. And then yellow wax beans.
And you need to get it at a market and make sure it's seasonal.

Krówka candie bars.

As a kid, I liked them.
But many young Poles I know hate them, because it was all they had......

Where abroad ?
All of what you mentioned, strawberries, czeresnie cherries, broad beans, new potatoes, regular cherries, are all in season right now where I live except for plums.

You can still buy any seasonal fresh fruit or vegetable you want in the stores however because they are shipped in from Florida and Mexico.

Shipping does make a difference and that's why supermarket food will never taste the same as locally grown food.

I understand that Kaprys.
Where I live by next month we will have everything that Poland can grow locally in our own back yards too.
That is why I ask where you lived abroad to miss Poland's seasonal fruits and vegetables in the summer.


It does on short shelf life fruits and vegetables but remember the size of the U.S.A. in land area compared to Poland so some fruits and vegetables have to be shipped.

Some things like Georgia peaches, Michigan black sweet cherries, Florida oranges, Hawaiian pineapples can't be beat in any State, shipped or not.
Does Poland grow mangoes, avocados and banana's that have to be shipped 1500 miles north and taste just like they were just picked fresh ?
The U.S. does so I can't understand where you went abroad to miss Poland's seasonal fruits and vegetables.

As I said before shipped fruit and vegetables don't taste as those grown locally. And that was my point.
Have you ever heard how fruit and vegetables are shipped? For example bananas are picked not fully ripe, then they use conservatives and transport them abroad. If you see some sort of white stuff at the end of the fruit, it means they used too many conservatives.

Also compare the taste and smell of tomatoes and strawberries grown locally and those that have been refrigerated for shipping.
I've had for example melon in Poland and in Italy. And the taste is different. And the distance between Poland and Italy is not that big.

We can easily get strawberries and other fruit from supermarkets all year long but the taste is just different. Not to mention, frozen stuff. Of course, they're good source of vitamins in winter (if stored properly) but they're not the same.

So what local fruit and veggies can you get where you live?

different taste of strawberries in various places (like supermarkets vs market stalls) comes from differences in strawberry varieties to a large extent - those that are sweet and have a distinct taste decay sooner than those that are bland -

Like I said, almost the same things you can in Poland.
The sad part is fresh local produce has about a one month window before it is out of season again.


Yupper, the wild strawberries very small but are three times sweeter as the bigger domestic ones bred to stay fresh longer for the market that have little or no flavor.

Nothing sweeter then wild strawberry jam on toast or ice cream.

That's one thing I absolutely love about Poland and Europe. The fruit is the way it should be. Meanwhile in the USA a strawberry is almost the size of an apple and most of it is just water. It annoys me whenever I go to the supermarket and see this weird frankenfood that literally looks like an experiment gone wrong. A real strawberry should be small, sweet and not look like two strawberries mashed together into one.

Maybe, but I also think that they are harvested too soon and left in cold storage for too long. Supermarket fruit often tastes bland to me or just doesn't ripen at all. The strawberries I have in my garden at the moment were pretty tasteless until they got some sun in the last couple weeks. They taste lovely now.

I am disappointed that I can't get more varieties of Wawel chocolate over here, particularly Tiramisu. If I do find it in Polish shops or some supermarkets, it's always in small bags or individual pieces for pick 'n mix. I want the big 280 g bars!

A bit less now, Europe has largely adopted the US model and produce from the south is shipped across the continent so that in the winter tomatoes and cucumbers (and other stuff) is available but shipped in from Spain and Italy and Greece....

At least some stores list the country of origin so that more local products can be chosen when they're in season (though Biedronka has no idea how to store broadbeans (bób) and it turns brown and unappealing too soon...

Are there waffels like these in Poland? Not this brand but do Polish shops carry waffel bars? In the Netherlands finding something like this was very hard believe it or not! Not so in Slovakia where they have local brands like Mäta.

supermag.bg/promotions/view?iid=1694404

They call them oplatke, we call them vafli (from waffels).

@Zlatko
Yeah, Prince Polo, Princessa or Grzeski. Plus some supermarkets have their own discount brands.

Oh hell ya prince polo hazelnut is by far my favorite chocolate... Well technically a chocolate wafer but whatever.

They're super cheap here. 33 cents for the small one 50 cents for the xxl

Don't forget about all the candies named after polish dudes I.e. michalki

To be honest not a thing. I'm open on new experiences at the same time I'm not very demanding, a high quality meat will do me, no problem.

As for broad beans in biedronka and other supermarkets, they're three times more expensive than at a market.

The worst PL food is galareta that nasty gelatin with meat. Idk how people can eat that...

Other foods I miss from Poland are the real zapiekanki, zurek, kabanosy and nalesniki. I hate the ketchup they use in Poland though

A long time ago i worked on the privatization of Polands biggest ketchup factory - Heinz bought it and wanted to change the recipe but the Poles were used to their own ketchup taste so after a few tasting panels they just kept it as it is. I normally avoid it - sweet and cloying taste. If i am grilling i use mustard and chrzan.

Sorry Dirk, but you just showed what a wimp you are.....
I love galareta with vinegar and a good dose of salt and pepper.

Why because I dont like nasty leftover cuts like pigs feet molded into gelatin?

The whole purpose of galareta was to maximize calories and use up as much crappy meat as possible during times when ingredients were rationed.

@mafketis
Yeah I noticed some of the foods sold in supermarkets in e Europe are poor quality. Maybe because companies have to price the goods cheaper in order to be competitive so they skimp out on quality to keep margins in check? Idk.

If you want fresh vegetables in Poland in winter... you either import or... do without. Once those importation chains are set up they're not just gonna be limited to the winter months... I think the massive greenhouse complexes in Spain (like the one near Almeria) keep working year round and (as in the US) they have to choose for durability over taste (two qualities in produce that almost never go together).

It's possible to buy nicer quality fruits and vegetables for part of the year but having the same foods available year round... is going to affect the overall quality.

There is one more option. Most veg can be stored in low temperatures, even for a few months.

Most leafy vegetables and 'temperate' fruit - including pome and citrus fruits - are not chill-sensitive and can be stored between 0°C and 2°C for long periods without significant loss of visual quality.

Now we can discuss - is it still fresh or not ? :):)

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