What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods?

I'm Polish and I think a lot of Polish food is exceptionally delicious. I wish it was more diverse, like in the First Polish Republic.

But at the same time, I think a lot of Polish cooks are inventive with the food here.

Where about in Poland are you from?


It wasn't. In those days the diet for 95% of people was grindingly monotonous. Only the wealthy could experience diversity and even then, not all the time.


It's important for a cuisine to evolve creatively. All cuisines evolve; either well or badly.

I heard that noble food was diverse and taking influences from many parts of the world, we are not talking about peasant cuisine. Ah, ok, you already told about the nobles. I heard that communism contributed to the unification of Polish cuisine.


I prefer not telling, but I live in Southern Poland.

@jon357

The problem is that there was only ever a vanishingly small amount of that, among the wealthiest aristocrats.

There were some interesting things that came later with trade, industrialisation and diversity, like Pierogi Lwowskie in the 1930s. Paradoxically there were also traditions lost during the 1920-1939 period of homogenisation.

I like the regional specialities (such as are left) like forszmak, things you only get in certain parts of the country.

@jon357
Sorry, I'm a 21 year old girl, I was always a bit ignorant at history, even though I had a couple of good grades, but I like learning more about Polish history.

There's so much to find out. The way the food has constantly changed and evolved is fascinating.

This sounds interesting: copy-paste=deleted

I do find it endlessly interesting how "Polish food" today is more or less a post-1945 invention by the Communists in order to maximise calories for people doing physical work.

I read this a few weeks ago - ciekawostkihistoryczne.pl/2017/10/12/polskie-jadlo-tradycyjna-kuchnia-to-wszystko-bujda-co-naprawde-przed-wojna-jadali-zwykli-polacy/ - about how peasant cooking in Poland was really nothing like how people think it was.

I knew that about carp on Christmas Eve (it had been one of those dishes that some people had on wigilia but it was the communists who popularized it as an essential part). I could understand the motivation as they were looking for cheap protein (and carp is both). I think originally they wanted to make carp a regular food but it's just not the kind of thing that people want on a daily (or even weekly) basis....

Apparently pre-bolshevik food has largely been lost as the few written sources that still exist are full of terms that even modern highly educated Russian speakers don't know... so reproducing the dishes is really hard...

Yes, I think so too. It's fascinating how people believe that it's a genuine tradition, yet by all accounts, it was just another fish among many on the table. There's a fascinating article here about it - tokfm.pl/Tokfm/1,103085,8852873,Karp___ryba_kontrowersyjna_i_tania.html - the thing I didn't know until recently is that carp is doing all sorts of damage to the ecosystem too.

There's few sources to that:
Compendium ferculorum from 17th century by Stanislaw Czerniecki.
Uniwersalna książka kucharska from 1913 by Maria Ochorowicz-Monatowa
Nowoczesna kuchnia domowa 1934
Just few,

Thanks for those Ironside, I wouldn't mind trying out some recipes from before WW2! I know that Polish cuisine was much better then.

haha that's like the same way the state tourist organization in Bulgaria came with the now "traditional" Shopska salad in the 60s. Czech and Slovak tourists liked it so much they bought it with them in Czechoslovakia as Sopsky salat.

A similar story to the delicious Treska v majonéze (Cod with mayo) salad created in Slovakia in 1954. Most people assume those two salads are older and more traditional than they are. Doesn't make them any less typical.

Wasn't zapiekanka itself created in the PRL days?

Yes. As were Delicje biscuits which were a copy of UK jaffa cakes.

I would call it an improvement on jaffa cakes.

Most however wouldn't, least of all the people who make them.

Do they sell Jaffa Caked where you are?

Moving briefly onto drinks, has anyone ever made Kvass ( Kwas chlebowy )? I've tried it in countries other than Poland, but presume it's pretty much the same. I love it, so if anyone has a good recipe please post it. Also, I like the smoky tasting Kompot that's often served at Xmas. Is it just the dried fruits that give it its smoky taste?

It is. Here it's often associated with Russia and Ukraine, though some people here do make it at home and supermarkets often have it.

I love it. Shops in the U.K. sometimes have it now. Tastes great, not good for teeth though.

I'm sorry I didn't translate any recipes yet but I promise I will do.

Here is another Polish dish- Łazanki

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Seems that you can use about any fruit of your liking to flavor it.

breadcentric.com/2017/07/02/kvass-kwas-chlebowy/

I'll look out for it but I'm going to have a go at making it myself. Found a basic recipe and it looks easy peasy.


No worries! I've tried Łazanki before and liked it, but it had cabbage and square pasta pieces in it.

This one has sour cabbage but the pasta is different simply because I couldn't be as*ed to drive to the Polish shop

@Chemikiem

Kaszotto

Slightly dry one garlic clove, add one chopped leek (just white and light green part) sprinkle with a bit of black pepper, cover and let the leek soften a bit. Open and move to the side and add chicken (about 250,300 g cut into small pieces and spiced with salt, pepper and a tsp of oregano. Let it dry until chicken is cooked, add the buckwheat (recipie calls for bormal one but I used roasted as I love the taste) mix everything and fry for about a minute. Pour in 2/3 cup of water mixed with 3 tbsp of soy souce . Cover and let the buckwheat cook for about 5,10 minutes. Stir in chopped Chinese leave (as much as you can get out of one :) ). Cover and cook for few minutes then open and let the liquid reduce. Add some spinach if you like. Done.

Recipie for krupnik a bit later.

Here is one of the standard 'lack of meat' PRL dishes

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Thanks for that Lenka :)

I might have a go at this over the weekend. Roughly how much buckwheat would you put in?


They look a bit like rissoles. What type of filling would go into them? Bit hard to tell from the pictures.

100 grams


No filling just boiled eggs with bread crumbs, fried onion salt, pepper and raw egg

kotlety jajeczne? I seem to remember having those a time or two in stołówka (but back in the 1990s).

Exactly! There was quite a lot of such vegetarian versions but when the market opened and meat was freely available they became unpopular

That sounds quite nice, I would eat those.

Easy to make. My proportion:
6 grated, hard boiled eggs, one small, chopped fried onion, one raw egg and bread crumbs enough to be able to form them. Then roll them in bread crumbs on the outside and fry. Voila

Usually served with dill or mushroom gravy/souce

Thanks Lenka. I'm going to make those to take to work on Monday.