Poles have a more loving attitude to food than here in the UK

I've noticed how Poles have a very close relationship with food

Poles can get REALLY excited about seasonal tomatoes or mushrooms or cherries or plums and when in company the conversation often turns to the topic of Polskie Kuchnie. Brits don't really have the same kind of passion

Part of that is historical food trauma, which is realtively recent in Poland (most of the 1980s for almost everyone and into the mid 90s or so for the poorer part of the population). I don't think the British have really had food trauma since the late 1940s early 1950s (or whenever it was when rationing ended).

Also related is shopping trauma which is why the prospect of stores being closed for one whole day is preceded by masses of people buying enough food to feed a family of 17 for three weeks and why closing stores on Sunday is a non-starter here. Closed stores still make a lot of Polish people nervous. It takes over a generation for trauma to work itself out of the population (in severe cases like for Ukrainians it's still there).

Interesting theory. I would add to that the demise of truly seasonal produce in the UK and the fact that obviously appreciating one's food came to be seen as vulgar. If you read etiquette books of the early part of the twentieth century aimed at the aspiring lower middle classes you'll see hilarious stuff such along the lines of 'never take too obvious an interest in food', 'when visiting do not comment on the host's decor, posessions or the food being served'. There's even a very funny one which advises men not to behave as if their dinner is the most important event of the day. I think Poles on the whole are more earthy people than the Brits.

How recent is that? When did fresh produce come to be available year round in the Isles? The current system of southern Europe (plus some non-European countries) providing year round 'fresh' tomatoes and the like is relatively recent in Poland (began in the 90s but only hit the big time with the arrival of the big hypermarkets and chain supermarkets).

Yawn lol.

Poles are excited about types of food that are seasonal. We simply love food. Especially Polish. Adding to that the fact that we Poles love to cook our own meals it is no surprise people get excited about "młode ziemniaczki", "truskawki" in Summer or "grzyby" in Autumn. Nonesense about trauma has nothing to do with that otherwise we'd be getting crazy over everything and everyday.

Yes. Have to be honest in that I have never heard of "historical food trauma".

@NoToForeigners I think you understand the point I was clumsily trying to make. I

I was referring to the Polish love of food and it's preparation. It's something that is very noticeable especially when compared with English colleagues.

I was at our local Polish shop yesterday and they had brought a new shipment of Malinowe tomatoes in-the Polish customers were all over them. English people wouldn't know what all the fuss was about. Then again, how many English people have tasted Polish tomatoes :)

That is because what i have wrote and additionally abroad it's hard and less convenient to get stuff like that. In Poland where i live i have Polish meat store (Żubr), Polish local bakery, Polish spirits store in 100 yard radius. :)

And actually theres a lady selling home grown strawberries just in front of the bakery :)

Something that I rarely if ever see here in the UK. Farmers markets don't count....

Just like i said. There's no second bottom as some suggest. That's our culture and tradition. And i actually love that! I just had a typical Polish Summer-time dinner. Boiled jacket "młode ziemniaczki" with "jajka sadzone" and "sałata ze śmietaną". You aren't Polish if you dont like that!!!

LOL, as if. They're almost always bought from the same wholesalers. It's highly unlikely that hers would have survived that brutal frost that came in a couple of months ago if they were genuinely home grown.


Yes, plenty of people either remember or were told by their parents about how bad things were then. People remember all too well what it was like to not get things, hence the madness before a holiday.

The amount of food wasted in Poland is truly shocking.

The English also felt themselves relatively stigmatized in terms of their culinary talents, well into the latter half of the prior century! Although having moved light years beyond fish 'n chips, tankards of ale, roast beef and the like, it was still quite common for any respectable English country estate to employ the requisite FRENCH cook to prepare meals fit for royal vs. mere plebian consumption:-) On the other hand, very native Wensleydale, Stilton with a nice local port can satisfy even the most finicky denizens of her Majesty's Table, I've no doubt.

Wasn't in Poland for long enough, but have always heard how seriously Poles tend to take especially their produce, above all apples along with other types of typically Northern fruit such as plums, pears etc.

Yes, but what is particularly interesting is their ignorance to what actually goes into growing their produce.

Wasn't aware of that, Delph. Wonder why.

Just another note. Continentals often take their main meal of the day for lunch, whereas, like the Americans, Brits usually will have either a small sandwich and coffee or a light snack for midday, leaving their main meal for supper aka dinner. Not sure though where this casual attitude towards eating arose.

Oho, another expert opinion from delph the mighty. Just get off your high horse. Most people are much closer to the nature that you would ever believe and have a good idea what is what. If they don't want to grow stuff themselves there is little point in dwelling whether or not the source of the food is poisoned or genuine. No other choice but to chance it.

Those who care more about it can souse out pretty well sources of the food sold on a local market.

There was a tradition of growing in orangeries and greenhouses dating back to Elizabethan times in England but at that time it was the preserve of the aristocracy. However it took off big time in the Victorian era so it wouldn't be that unusual to be served fresh cucumber and tomato for your afternoon tea sandwiches out of season especially if your host had a garden. But the amount that people could grow in their own domestic greenhouses was obviously limited so it was still a 'treat', not a daily thing. People still did a lot of pickling and preserving though just as Poles still do today. The1960s really changed everything with most people getting a fridge and the advent of frozen food. Then of course in the 1970s with the EEC you saw a lot of importing of fruits and veggies from other places so the 'season' for strawberries for example became earlier. The same thing is happening in Poland now.


My husband would eat them with zsiadłe mleko and koperek.


There could be something in it though. Most Polish posters here aren't old enough to remember those times but Mr Atch does. He was only a kid but he remembers going to the shop for something one day and there was nothing there except vinegar, wall to wall vinegar!


Have you read the diary of Parson Woodforde?? You'd love it! He lived in the 18th century, died in the early 1800s. It gives a very good account of the food of the period in a middle class household as he recorded what was served for dinner each day. You might be surprised. Here's an example:

"We had for dinner some Pike, a Couple of Fowls boiled and Piggs Face, green Peas Soup and a prodigious fine and fat Haunch of Venison ... The second Course was a Fricasse, a Couple of Ducks roasted, green Peas, plumb Pudding, Maccaroni, &c. ..."

I always remember one quote in particular from a Christmas entry when he didn't sleep well as 'mince pie rose oft' during the night :D

As we only have your word for that then we should choose to ignore that claim.

It's called "World War II followed by communism". Throughout the communist period food was generally available but required planning and forethought (and large cash outlays at times). In the worst of times there were ration cards for some types of food (if people could find the rationed items which was by no means a given).

Empty stores (or 'grocery' stores mostly selling vinegar) and endless lines to buy anything were the daily course of things in the PRL.

Ours in the east are fine. Yesterday I bought a couple of kilos as I was driving through a village on my way to the city. 5PLN/kilo. Delicious.

i went once to a nearby town and ended up in a flat full of Polish working men, standing in the kitchen, and they were making these little pastry twists with icing sugar. I was a bit suprised as you would never get british working men engaging in patisserie skills together would you?

Sounds like faworki.

@spiritus
Delphiandomine is a well known troll on this forum. Just check the threads he created lol

And don't listen to Mafketis. Food shortage has nothing to do with anything. Poles loved food for centuries before communism.

However, Atch, Parson Woodforde or Mrs. Beaton are nevetheless a far cry from Nigella Lawson:-)

Poles share with other continental Europeans aka the Italians, the French, even the Spanish and to a degree the Germans, a deep respect for the idea of "setting a good table"!. Perhaps only until quite recently with all this multiculturalism have the English begun to think about home dining for commoners as something to be savored on an aesthetic level!

You are obviously lying as your experience completely contradicts Delphian's claims that the babcias selling produce on the roads purchased them from the supermarkey instead :)

And the first nowalijki in spring, sometimes in time for the Easter święcone.
Now you can get strawberries in January, but they are partially green, hard and tasteless. They have to pick them partially unripe to endure the jostle of transporting them from Spain or Italy. Poland's June strawberries are fragrant, juicy and delicious, although this has not been a good year for them.

BTW health experts now agree that the healthiest is locally grown produce consumed in season.

I think he's saying more that they're often bought not at supermarkets but at produce wholesalers (giełdy).

In the city that's probably true (for those setting up stands on the sidewalk). Though in the country side it's more liable to be from the field (not a given, but more likely)

There are fewer than normal but the quality is great. Very sweet.
As for provenance, you city slickers have to wonder, but we villagers know what we are buying because we can see the damn things growing behind the farmhouses.

Yes, that's exactly my point. People in large towns and cities often believe in this myth, and of course, every seller will swear blind that it comes from their own farm. Strangely enough, their prices always seem to be higher than the wholesale price...

The countryside is a different beast, but even then, it's not exactly uncommon to be sold eggs that came straight from Biedronka. It's a different story if you know a trusted farmer, of course.

thats right , eat locally grown as much as you can - Here in Wales, people keep hens and have a little egg shop table to sell surplus eggs at the end of their drive, or outside their house, with an honesty box for the money, usually a pound for six eggs. Sometimes there are greens or beetroot. Would that work in Poland? It wouldn't last 5 mins in England. Maybe in parts, I don't know.

Probably not. I've never seen a 'honesty box' type system here.