Polish cuisine
Polish cuisine is rich in meat, especially pork, chicken and game, in addition to a wide range of vegetables, spices, fungi and mushrooms, and herbs.
Many Poles take time to serve and enjoy their festive meals, especially Christmas Eve dinner (Wigilia) on December 24, or Easter breakfast, both of which could take several days to prepare.
In restaurants, soups are followed by an appetizer such as herring (prepared with either cream, oil, or in aspic), or other cured meats and chopped raw vegetable salads.
The main course usually includes meat, such as a roast, breaded pork cutlet, or chicken, with a coleslaw-like surówka ([suˈrufka]), shredded root vegetables with lemon and sugar (carrot, celeriac, cooked beetroot), sauerkraut, or mizeria salad.
[5][6] Polish cuisine in the Middle Ages was based on dishes made of agricultural produce and cereal crops (millet, rye, wheat), meats of wild and farm animals, fruits, forest fungi, berries and game, honey, herbs, and local spices.
[7][8] Owing to close trade relations with Turkey and the countries in the Caucasus, the price of spices (such as black pepper and nutmeg) was much lower in Poland than the rest of Europe, hence spicy sauces became popular.
[11] At that time, the word wódka (vodka) referred to chemical compounds such as medicines and cosmetic cleansers, while the popular beverage was called gorzałka [ɡɔˈʐawka] (from the Old Polish gorzeć).
During this period, the use of spices — which arrived in Poland via Western Asian trade routes was common among those who could afford them, and dishes considered elegant could be very spicy.
Court records show that Queen Bona imported large volumes of southern European, American, and Western Asian fruits (oranges, lemons, pomegranates, olives, figs, tomatoes), vegetables (potatoes and corn), nuts (chestnuts, raisins, and almonds, including marzipan), along with grains (such as rice), cane sugar, and Italian olive oil.
Ludwika brought along with her a court full of Frenchmen including courtiers, secretaries, army officers, physicians, merchants, craftsmen, as well as many cooks.
[13] Records show that her visiting guests were entertained with game, fowl (waxwings, fieldfares, snow bunting, hazel grouse, partridges, black grouse, capercaillies), fish and mollusks (loach, various trout, grayling, fresh and smoked salmon, flounder, salted herring, lampreys in vinegar, oysters, snails), and Genoese pâté, not to mention fresh fruit and chestnuts.
[12] Signature dishes of Western Asia reached Polish tables thanks to the Armenian trade and cultural exchange with Poland's neighbor: the Ottoman Empire.
The oldest surviving Polish cookbook, Compendium ferculorum, albo Zebranie potraw ("Collection of Dishes") by Stanisław Czerniecki was published in Kraków in 1682.
Among popular dishes introduced by public restaurants were kotlet mielony (meatballs), a sort of hamburger often served with beetroot puree and raw carrots.
Recent years have seen the advent of the slow food movement, and a number of TV programmes devoted to cooking, both traditional and modern, have gained in popularity.
In 2011, a nostalgic cookbook (written in English) combining a child's memories growing up in the Gierek era with traditional Polish recipes was published in London.
Nonetheless, in most of Poland one can still get traditional and very popular Polish street food such as the zapiekanka, a pizza-like baguette with cheese, mushrooms, onion, ketchup, and sometimes meat.
Other popular dishes, eaten on ensuing days, include pickled matjas herring, rollmops, pierogi with sauerkraut and forest mushrooms, fish soup, kielbasa, hams, bigos (savory stew of cabbage and meat), and vegetable salads.
Other famous specialities include rogale świętomarcińskie (croissants filled with white poppy seeds), fried cheese and a beer Grodziskie/Grätzer (made from oak-smoked wheat malt and with a low alcohol content).
The mountain areas of Lesser Poland, especially Podhale, are famous for its sheep milk cheeses like bundz, creamy bryndza or smoked oscypek.
Many dishes in Lublin cuisine have Jewish roots, like cebularz (flatbread topped with onion and poppy seeds) and forszmak (soup with various types of meat).
Because of the proximity to the sea, typical for the region are various forms of fish dishes like śledź po kaszubsku (herring in tomato marinade with onion) and fried cod or flounder.
Other famous specialties include kashubian strawberry (kaszëbskô malëna), gingerbreads from Toruń and alcohol beverages from Gdańsk: Goldwasser (herbal liqueur with flakes of gold leaf) and machandel (juniper vodka).
Besides, in the resort towns along the West Pomeranian Baltic coast, popular street foods are sandwiches with herring, similar to German Fischbrötchen.
However, there are also some typical traditional dishes like Warsaw tripe, pyzy z mięsem (potato dumpling with meat) and pork knuckles in jelly (popular as a vodka chaser).
[34] The world's first written mention of the drink and of the word "vodka" was in 1405 from Akta Grodzkie recorder of deeds,[11][clarification needed] the court documents from the Palatinate of Sandomierz in Poland.
By the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish vodka was known in the Netherlands, Denmark, England, Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and the Black Sea basin.
Traditionally, kvass (kwas chlebowy) was a fermented beverage first popular among the peasantry, but it later spread to the szlachta and became a universal Polish drink by the 14th-15th centuries.
[37][38] Despite its production on an industrial scale in Poland during the interbellum,[39] it began to lose popularity to mass-produced soft drinks and carbonated water in the 20th century.
Other frequently consumed beverages include buttermilk, kefir, soured milk, instant coffee, various mineral waters, juices, and numerous brands of soft drinks.
