Cuisine

From our travels we usually remember the wonderful moments of relaxation in a beautiful landscape or … tastes! That’s why every tourist coming to Poland should try the local soups, aromatic meats (usually in sauces), sausages and … vodka. The best souvenir will be dried plums in chocolate.

 

What’s for dinner?

 

Poles eat a lot of soups, regardless of the season. In hot weather, something cool is best (so called chlodnik with beetroot, cucumber and yogurt), and on cold days zurek (with acidified flour with sausage and egg), mushroom soup (Poles love to collect mushrooms) or kapusniak – sour soup (sauerkraut). The traditional main dishes are dumplings (meat, so-called Russian or with cottage cheese, onions and potatoes, or with blueberries), potato pancakes with goulash, stew ( in Polish bigos – cabbage with mushrooms, meat, dried plums) or pork knuckle. The brave should try blood sausage or perfectly cooked offal.  You can also enjoy delicious desserts: cheesecake, apple pie with whipped cream, poppy seed or potluck (mixed raw egg yolks with sugar).

 

Drinks

 

Poland is famous for its vodka – it is a traditional beverage, almost mandatory for grand weddings and family celebrations. The tradition of vodka in Poland dates back to the Middle Ages (it was then called “aqua vita”, meaning  the water of life). It is traditionally produced from grain or potatoes. The most common is clear vodka, but Poland is also famous for delicious flavored vodkas such as cherry vodka, krupnik (with a honey-spicy taste) or traditional Gdansk Goldwasser (with flecks of gold).
Poland also enjoys a long tradition of brewing and today is known for its good beers. Several breweries as Tyskie (Tychy) and Lech (Poznan) are open to the public. Small, local breweries are also quite popular now in Poland and there are more than 100 of them.
Poles drink a lot of tea, regardless of the time of day. The most common is black tea, served with a slice of lemon. Devotees of tea with milk will find that it’s not very popular in Poland.