Top 5 things I like about Poland

Perhaps that's the truth. Even the ratio on the supermarkets shelves show which is more popular.


While many possibly do (and most don't get them from factories but simply a bit bigger bakery)there is still more in Poland.

I don't see that. Just small factories making the same stuff and in better areas, chains masquerading as independents.


Same everywhere, especially that appalling Baltonowski. Nevertheless, all UK supermarkets of any decent size, as well as some in Poland, do sell better stuff.

I've never been a big bread eater but my experience with British bread (limited, yes) did not impress....

I do know American bread (shudder) and Polish bread is far better than anything available in the US (partly due to the way flour is processed there).

IME there are three ages (eras) of Polish bread

late PRL to early free Poland - limited variety, main bread was an eggy rye/wheat mix, actually kind of hard to find now. Filling and nourishing because it had to be.

early free Poland to about 2015 or so - gradual increase in variety and decrease in quality - was getting... spongier and losing flavor

Sometime after 2016- now - continued increase in variety with increasing quality - a big change was the reintroduction of sourdough over yeast

Someone once moaned to me that his father had been working in the UK and hated the bread. It turned out he'd only ever done his shopping at petrol stations and Iceland. Anyone eating only leathery bread from petrol stations in PL would say the same thing.


I've noticed that.

There are improvements, however much of what is sold is still Baltonowski.

Well-baked bread, plump inside, with a crispy crust and of course sourdough. I remember such bread from Poland since forever, of course initially from a private baker, to whom there was always a queue. In Germany, at least where I live, I can only dream of such bread. It's a pity I don't live in Bavaria, I think they still know how to bake bread like that.

I get that home made, at home. It's nice, though a nice light brown load made with baker's yeast and strong flour is pretty good too, and very easy to make.

The nicest bread in Poland (although the babcias in the shop insist it's not bread) is Bulka Wroclawska.

I enjoy how you can always find a good restaurant in any area of Poland, offering high-quality food at a reasonable price. A refreshing Polish beer is a must to pair with the meal ;)

The problem with this beer is if you arrived by car.

There are some nice ones to find.

A lot have near identical menus though, mostly stuff that people can (and do) make at home.

For example, good old pork chop with potatoes and cucumber salad. 🥩🥒

Schabowy? Translates better as pork schnitzel.

Yes, that sort of thing. And pierogi.

If I try to explain it to an American I'd probably say 'breaded pork chop'...

Chop does imply a particular cut to me, one with a bone and fat

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schabowy can have bone... I think the boneless cutlets are more modern...

I'm not sure how many Americans know 'schnitzel' (they've for sure heard it but many are probably not sure if it's a kind of chop or sausage or roast....).

Breaded pork cutlet

Traditional.


That would confuse people in the U.K. since a cutlet is usually just a small chop, cut from the smaller end of the worst.

Schnitzel is known in Britain, as is escalope.

I didn't expect that the Polish "kotlet" comes from the English cutlet. 🥩

It just means a small cut.

Quite a lot of words in Polish seem to come from English.