A Traveler’s Taste of Polish Cuisine

Editor’s Note: These Polish dishes sound absolutely delicious.  We may just have to make a trip to Poland soon..

We all know food plays a significant role when traveling the world. If you decide to head to Eastern Europe and spend a few days in Poland, there are certain dishes you might not be familiar with, but you definitely need to try them in order to have a taste of traditional Polish food. Polish cuisine might be considered by many as “heavy” and “stodgy” as most of dishes are made of flour and cereal (pastas, dumplings, noodles), but putting a few pounds on is absolutely worth it! You will discover a fresh taste of sour cream, cottage cheese, mushrooms and Polish sausages and your mouth will start watering when looking at Polish cakes.

Here are 5 top traditional Polish foods you can’t miss:

1. Soups – Rosó? (Polish Meat Broth)
You can come across many different varieties of rosó?, but the one you should definitely have for your lunch or dinner should be traditional chicken soup, served with homemade thin noodles, fried onion, boiled carrot and parsley. This dish will definitely warm you up in cold days and get you back on your feet when you have a cold! It’s a custom to have it on Sunday.

2. Starters –Polish herring
Polish people love eating pickled herrings for Christmas and Easter. It’s not only tasty and affordable, but also very easy to make it. You can either have your herrings in sour cream or oil with some pickled onion. Traditional Polish herring is slightly salty and sour.

3. Main course – Polish pierogi
Pierogi (Polish dumplings) are made of unleavened dough and filled with either cottage cheese, cabbage with mushrooms, fruits or meat and vegetables depending on the season and the weather (strawberry and blueberry pierogi are mainly served in summer, cabbage and mushrooms in winter). Pierogi are extremely delicious, but difficult to make. They are boiled first and then baked or fried in order to get crispy texture.  Served with oil, onions and tiny pieces of bacon or sour cream and sugar (fruit ones).

4. Snacks – Faworki
Faworki are thin and crispy biscuits sprinkled with icing sugar. They are often called “Angel wings” for the sake of their shape of twisted ribbons. Faworki are not very sweet, so it would be a perfect snack choice for anyone. If you want, you can put some strawberry jam or nutella chocolate on top. Faworki are eaten in the period just before Lent, often during Carnival and on Fat Thursday. I used to make them with my mom and  grandmother for Christmas too.

5. Dessert – Hot szarlotka
Who would resist the temptation of a little piece of amazing Polish apple tart? Nobody, believe me! Especially when it is served with whipped cream or ice cream of your choice. Szarlotka’s crust is very sweet and it is made with butter, looks very sophisticated but is not that hard to make.

As you can see Poland has a lot to offer in terms of its traditional food. Whether you feel an urge to try something super sweet, sour or salty, Polish cuisine will definitely live up to your expectations.

About the guest author:
Agness is a Polish vagabond who, after graduation, left her comfort zone and set off for a journey of her lifetime to China in 2011. She has been constantly traveling the world since then (slowly, but surely as she says), living like a local for less than $25 a day. She became a photography passionate and adventure blogger sharing her life enthusiasm and travel experience with everyone around. Connect with Agness on Twitter   or Facebook!

Photo Credit: Guest blogger Agness