Category: Food

I didn’t go on my recent trip to Poland for the food, although I probably should have given it more consideration. Our mission was to discover family ties, but we soon realized that food is a major link to our past and remains a proud tradition for all Poles.

I’m a child of second-generation Polish parents who turn out to be from families that once lived in roughly the same southeastern region of Poland, about an hour’s drive from the Ukrainian border. While my father and mother were both born in the U.S., their parents came from Poland around the turn of the century. My parents never had the opportunity to visit the old country.

My mom learned to cook from her mom, our “babci” (grandmother in Polish). That’s how most Polish dishes were passed down in the family, a tradition likely still true for many immigrant families. While Polish dishes were not regularly scheduled unless it was a holiday, we probably ate Polish food at least once every week or two. Those hearty dishes were different from what our friends and neighbors ate. Little did we know that we would come to miss that food and wonder what else we were missing from our heritage.

For the last 45 years, I’ve been lucky enough to be married to a notable Italian chef, Mary Ann, who reigns over our kitchen. Mary Ann learned most of her important cooking skills from her “nonna” (grandmother in Italian), and so it goes. I would never argue which country’s cuisine is best, but occasionally she will cook something Polish, like kielbasa or pierogies. It’s been decades since my mom passed, but recently I got to go full “Polish” again during my visit to our country of origin.

During our week-long stay, except for an afternoon dinner at our relatives’ home, we ate fast food for lunch and full dinners in the evenings. Polish food options were everywhere, but there were also American and international cuisine choices. Payment and tipping were similar to anywhere in Europe today—quick and painless using a credit card or smartphone. Most credit card companies automatically convert the currency at a favorable rate. Tipping is minimal; 10% is advised for exceptional service but not necessary. Being American, we tipped more.

Poland uses the zloty for its currency, not the Euro. The good news is that the zloty is trading at about $0.25 to the $1 (U.S.). Even more importantly, everything seemed cheaper, and food seemed half the cost in Poland compared to the U.S.

A Traveler’s Breakfast

If you have traveled to Europe, you know breakfast offerings are similar in places you stay and are usually free at your hotel. The hospitality in Poland is no different. Hotels offer a full-choice free breakfast buffet with pastries, fruit, meats, yogurt, eggs, etc., along with juice, tea, and coffee. Coffee, of course, is mostly served in smaller, fancier ways like espresso or cappuccino. A large cup of “American” coffee is almost unheard of, except where Starbucks has landed in the bigger cities. All of our hotels seemed to use the same self-serve, high-end coffee machine that offered a choice of any type as long as it fit into an 8-ounce cup or smaller. Coffee limitations aside, breakfast buffets are a great standard solution to start your day. It’s even possible to grab some breakfast items “to go” and save them for lunch on the road or later as a snack.

Eating on the Road

Since we were traveling on the road most of the days during the week, we would find a place to eat a sandwich, slice of pizza, dish of pierogies, or better yet, look for a McDonald’s (young Ethan Luke’s preference). It’s commonly believed that McDonald’s food tastes better here because they use local sourcing for burgers, chicken, and dairy products.

These are ultra-modern McDonald’s with the familiar menu kiosk (English translations available), but with small differences in the style of burgers, chicken, and wraps with special sauces. Probably the most popular (the one our 14-year-old Ethan Luke preferred) was the WieśMac or Country Mac, a variation of the Big Mac but with a mustard-horseradish sauce—only available in Poland.

At least the vegetarian wrap and Polish sausage sandwich seemed different. Of course, as in the states, you can order online, use a credit card, or pay by phone app. No need for cash. That was true almost everywhere we went.

Playing the Food Guessing Game

My teenage grandson was incredibly patient over the five days and 300 miles of travel. But he gradually became obsessed with Polish products on sale at local convenience stores like chips, candy, and drinks. It became a game to seek out different products, sometimes using Google Translate to figure out what the product was. Some were variations of familiar products or branded with popular Euro stars, like Lionel Messi. Others were just something we had never seen before, like different flavors of chips or thick nectar fruit drinks.

How to Manage a Food Allergy

Ethan Luke has a nut allergy, so he has to be careful what he eats. Ethan had a very useful card with him that explained the allergy condition and foods he must avoid, including those that might have been in contact with nuts. It was in English on one side and Polish on the other.

So, he would present the card as he ordered. It seemed to work well. (Purchase online at Equal Eats) And, we enjoyed seeing him navigate what to order with the waitresses! Everywhere we went, the wait staff seemed eager to accommodate Ethan Luke and point out dishes that would be off-limits.

What’s for Dinner?

Dinnertime was where we got to really enjoy the cuisine of Poland. Our dinners were mostly at our hotels, which were all excellent. Most restaurants served traditional Polish and other international dishes. Ethan and I were looking forward to tasting and remembering old family dishes. For young Ethan Luke, this was an adventure in travel, language, and eating something new. He settled mostly on pierogies for dinner and became our pierogi expert by the end of the week.

Pierogi is King

Pierogies are considered a staple in Poland and can be found almost everywhere. Pierogies are stuffed dumplings usually filled with either meat or vegetables in a buttery garlic and onion sauce, served with sour cream on the side. Absolutely delicious in any flavor.

However, there were many more variations in almost every restaurant. In addition to the standards—cheese, meat, mushroom, potato, and sauerkraut—we tried pierogies filled with veal, buckwheat, and strawberries. With such choices available and a lighter texture than ravioli, they are considered the most popular national dish. But it seemed like every place we went had its own favorite way of offering pierogis!

Playing the Oldies but Goodies

I hadn’t been thinking much about old Polish dishes I hadn’t tried in years until they started appearing on the menu. Fried breaded pork chops were a personal past favorite that I got to enjoy our first night at the Grand Hotel restaurant in Rzeszów. Memories of potato pancakes (placki) with sour cream came back as I ordered them for dinner at the Bartna Chata Restaurant at the bee farm Sądecki Bartnik. We were “buzzing” about the place for days.

I’m pretty sure it was because there was so much else to try, and kielbasa is so well known, that we never ordered it during our entire stay. The one dish I sought out but was not on the menu when I wanted it was gołąbki, cabbage rolls stuffed with a mixture of rice and beef and served in a thin tomato sauce. It’s a common dish, less likely to be seen on a fancy menu. I still have fond memories of helping my mom make those by rolling together the chopped beef, rice, egg, breadcrumbs, and onions into those cooked leaves of cabbage. We would grab small chunks of the filling and eat the filling raw!

Different Eating Habits

Speaking of eating raw meat, all the dinner restaurants we ate at offered steak tartare as an appetizer. Ethan and I ordered it several times and thought the taste was amazing. I’m not sure what the current food handling laws are in Poland, but the food is not highly industrialized and considered safe even raw. I’m pretty sure this is a “rare” dish in the U.S., in a different way.

Another country favorite is soup as an appetizer. My impression was that most restaurants expected you to order an appetizer, and there was always a variety of soups to choose from. Żurek, a sour rye soup, is often seen on the menu. Probably the most popular is borscht (aka barszcz), a clear beet soup with a sour finish from added lemon and/or vinegar with Polish mushrooms. I wish I had tried it, but it seemed there was always something else to try instead. I went for the cream of asparagus soup our first night, and it was outrageously good.

Of course, our visit would not have been complete without sampling the wide variety of international food in Krakow. We got to try Jewish and Middle Eastern dishes and one of the best pizzas I ever had in Kazimierz, the old Jewish section of town, where practically every type of food could be found.

Memorable Polish Dining

For our last night out, we ate at Kogel Mogel, a Michelin-starred restaurant in the old section of Kraków. Amanda, Ethan’s wife, treated us (remotely) to a Father’s Day dinner for the three of us at one of the best restaurants in town. I had the roasted duck, the house specialty, which was amazing, as were all the other dishes we tasted there.

No doubt, the highlight of our culinary experience was to take place mid-week at our cousin’s home. We got to enjoy a surprise homemade afternoon dinner at the home of Bogumilia and Zdzislaw Furtek in Brzezanka. Bogumilia is a sister of cousin Krystyna Onacki, who had helped plan the visit to the place where our related family was born.

We had a chicken consume soup followed by a roast pork dinner with mushroom gravy, dill potatoes, and fresh salad – all sourced directly from their farm. 

Memories for Dessert

It’s funny how food often so basic that we take it for granted. What helped make this trip so special is that it brought back a flood of fond memories while opening up a new horizon of taste to explore. We did not get to try many of my old favorites and some new ones like the street food of Krakow and the famous filled Paczki donut. 

Food may not be the top reason to come back but it will be another major reason to revisit the friendly people and delicious cuisine of Poland.

Smacznego!

4o