British food products in Poland?

I remember in Bulgaria once there was a stand selling fresh baked things for locals (one British tourist ahead of me was shooed away like a stray dog when she asked a question in English) I could read the menu well enough to give convincing enough order and it was great, a couple of different baked pastries with various fillings that were filling and delicious (and not as heavy as some Bulgarian food - usually Bulgarian equivalents of Balkan-Greco-Turkish dishes are super heavy).

But then I also like langos and think that could be a food truck type thing here.... I used to have my own rating of the best langos in Budapest (number 1 at the Ecseri flea market, number 2 and Hold utca market... but since closed : (

Do you think Greggs could be successful here. They're very popular among Poles.

My vote would be, Absolutely, a Greggs in Poland would be successful.
They may ruin the Polish cuisine though with having food that actually has flavor and a crunch to it.
@jon
What kind of fish is normally served with fish & chips in Europe ?
Cod, Halibut, Pollock ?

Didnt Tesco pull out of Poland?

Some of the talk from the Poles about the quality of UK food is very funny. You seem to assume nobody in the UK cooks and we all buy packet shite.

C'mon, get real guys. I like Poland but the quality and choice of fresh produce in Poland (meat, fish and veg) is generally total crap and the cooking is bland stodge. Don't get me wrong, I like bland stodge but don't pretend it's something special.

World renowned Polish food exports? Um none.

I once met someone who'd worked there for a while and was very outspoken at how bad the bread was. It turned out that the only bread he'd eaten was stuff he'd bought at the petrol station...


To a point yes. Especially in smaller supermarkets. It's a lot better than it used to be though, and in the bigger places there's a good choice. Still not much lamb unfortunately. I once went to dinner at the home of someone who'd been on holiday to Greece and cocked moussaka. He introduced it by saying: "it's lamb, but don't worry, I cooked it for so long it won't taste of anything".


Some of the people mouthing off most in this thread aren't Poles and haven't been to the UK (or Poland).


Round Europe, either cod or pollock (a lot of pollock is sold here in Poland, as 'mintaj'). In England it's traditionally cod however in the north it varies from town to town. Some towns prefer haddock which is better quality but doesn't last as long. 'Posh' chip shops might have halibut to order, however it's quite expensive. Restaurants will often have plaice, usually done in breadcrumbs.

There are local variations too, like woof, hake and rock salmon.

@rtfm
Didn't Poles invent something that Italians (or was it the French) took and now claim they came up with it? I think it was some kind of pastry.


White cow cheese (similar to feta) is something that could be popular. It's great with salads, esp. those with tomatoes. White cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers and parsley is eay to make. ;)

Is it British (which the thread is about)?

Cheddar certainly flies of the shelves at Biedronka.

Cod in Ireland too but plaice and ray wings are very popular too. Ray is delicious. Hake is a favourite of mine but it seems to be impossible to get in Poland.

Is that similar to skate wings?

I've had them in a restaurant, but found them hard to cook.

One thing I've noticed here in Poland is that if a shop or restaurant is selling 'sola' it isn't usually sole, but instead plaice, which is nice in itself but not as nice (or as expensive) as sole.

I think Poles have adopted the architecture from the foreign lands they have worked at more than those lands food per se. I've seen lots of red-brick roads and terraced housing in Poland recently and I can't help but think the large Polish diaspora in the UK and Netherlands is partly to "blame". There was some historic terraced housing in Poland beforehand, but nowhere near to the extent with new osiedla.

Is it edible? From Britain?

Do they sell it in Kuchnia Swiata next to the Lyle's Golden Syrop?

jon357, oh come on, you know what I mean. I bet most Poles in the UK just do what other Central and Eastern Europeans there do - shop from their ethnic food shops. Just as Brits feel the lack of Brit food in Polska, so Polish workers there look for their food. Apart from some students curious for local dishes most people are just not that inclined to try it. Children and students are more open but then again for most adults living abroad is a temporary solution to get some cash to buy a house/apartment back in their country (I know I'd rather get a house in the Podhale than the UK).

I'd love to have real fish & chips or tikka masala chicken in Poland, and if they build more terraced houses there's no need to go to the UK at all then for me. Plus better weather (in the south) and being closer to other countries I like like Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine. But for now you can't have it all.

Polish shops in the UK can be like that to a point. The6 even have stuff like Masmix spread. Margarine is identical from country to country so odd to buy it. Polish brands of coffee too, identical to coffee in any other shop for a lower price. The same with fruit juice. Those places tend to cater to the less adventurous, and I suspect many of them don't make much money. The bigger ones that do tend to be a. not just Polish and b. almost a social centre.

Not all Poles in the UK are like that though, some/most are more adventurous.

Worth mentioning that in my town in the UK (lots of post-2004 Poles there), a more upmarket Polish deli opened as well as a Polish craft bakery, both aimed at Poles. Both have gone bust now.


Maharaja near pl. Konstytucji used to do a decent one. Most of the curries in Warsaw are inauthentic. Namaste on Hoża is probably the best, however I don't recall them doing a tikka masala which was invented for the U.K. market.

When Marks and Spencer had the food hall on Marszalkowska they did brisk business, especially baked goods. The customers there were a mix of British, people from other English-speaking countries, and mostly Poles.

If people want some food that suits British tastes, Makro isn't bad. They have lamb and also boczek of a type that you don't see in grocery shops, a type that substitutes quite well for bacon.

A lot of seafood sold is counterfeit.
Sea scallops for example are made from Ray Wings by using a cooking cutter to punch out perfectly round pieces of meat sold as expensive scallops.

Real scallops are not perfectly round, are tapered and have a distinct taste that ray meat lacks.
Rays are being over fished for this reason which is sad as they are such a dossal creature.
Plus the British fishermen just cut the wings off the rays and throws the rest back in the sea to die a morbid death.
The worst part is that the packaging of seafood very seldom tells you the country or waters it came from.
Poland seems to still be on a pre-war diet which is a much healthier diet than Britain's post war diet.

in case you didn't know Masmix is a mixture of vegetable (usually rapeseed) oil with butter - the mixture is easy to smear on a slice of bread and it tastes much better than margarines

As are dozens of identical products everywhere in Europe. It isn't even a particularly good example and is generally inferior to similar (usually cheaper) products over there.

can't say if it is inferior to Western products of the kind but here in Poland masmix is cheaper than the Western brands

It's on a par with the cheapest and most basic.


Remember we were talking comparatively about the Polish shops elsewhere and why some people stick to brands they know that are the same as products in other shops.

@jon357
Too bad it's in Warsaw. I prefer the real, authentic parts of Poland like Podhale. Yes, I realize foreign food and authenticity rarely mix together but I saw a burger place in some small village somewhere on a country road between a Katowice satellite city and Szczucin (not a typo ;))

I think you will find that there are currently quite a few chubby children in Poland, and it is no coincidence that eating habits have been influenced by food chains such as KFC...MacDonalds...kebab shops....etc..and the need to embrace new food experiences amongst the young.... The UK already has obesity problems but I must say Poland should take care not to fall into the same trap.....

The real culprit IMHO is snacking. Traditionally (before 2000 or so) people would eat three or four (often heavy and fatty) meals a day but between meal snacking was all but unheard of... its the "grazing" food model where a person never goes long without some kind of small snack that seems to propel overweight children...

Obesity is probably underreported in the statistics here. Nothing to do with British products though. More (as suggested) the proliferation of American fast food chains (so many here) and the absence of guidlines like "five a day".


Warsaw is less 'authentic' than Podhale???

You can of course get a wider selection of international products here; that doesn't make it any less "authentic" though.


Really? Food habits in Europe have always (except during times of war, poverty and famine) been eclectic. Carrots and tomatoes were one "foreign food" in Poland, as were potatoes.

Snacking, but also the fact that many parents simply don't let kids out anymore. A lot of kids in my area weren't even playing in the snow a few days ago, which is unreal. A neighbour is a nurse, and she asked me the same question - where were the kids?

Which eventually comes down to the fat math: calories in minus calories out equals extra fat if the difference is positive. Up one pound per 3500 of unburned calories, to be exact. Nothing else matters.

That mysterious "metabolism" the apologists are quick to mention is part of the revolutionary equation I just provided.

You got to admit America invented fat math.

That and the complete absence of nutritional basics like 5 a day. Some kids here have veg only floating in soup, as a bit of surowka or as a gherkin.

Which all counts towards the 5 a day so I have a problem seeing your point..

Not very well, unfortunately.

Anyway, the thread's not about Bulgarian food, American obesity, or the shortcomings of the Polish diet.

But all of those are more interesting than British food....