During the 7 days trip in Krakow, I was almost having Polish
food every day. I did enjoy them a lot, and I want to share some of my
understandings here. Poland itself has over thousand years’ history, so polish
cuisine also evolved over centuries and became very identical. There is some
famous Polish food already became icon of Poland such as Pierogi (dumpling like
traditional Pole food stuffed with meat, cheese or potato). Meanwhile, Polish
cuisine shares some common ground with center east European cuisines. Such
as, German and Polish consume similar sausages and bigos (slightly sour shredded
cabbage). Kompot (beverage obtained by cooking fresh fruit with large amount of
water and some sugar) is also very popular in eastern European country such as
Czech Republic and Turkey. Regardless of those general information may everyone
already know. I want to share something that I find particular interesting.
First thing I noticed from Polish cuisine is that meal
always starts with a soup. This soup is different with common western soup
which mostly is thick. It’s clear and light just like soups from Japan and
Southern China.
At the same time, Pole cuisine is also considered heavy by me,
because of the following stories:
In the first day trip we went pierogi for lunch and it was
one of the best pierogis I have ever had. After the meal Bozena told us that
she especially request low fat for us, because in last year’s trip a lot of
American student can’t take the pierogi since it was too fatty. It’s inferable
that if last year restaurant was doing what they do all the time, the
traditional way of serving pierogi in Poland would be heavy.
For the fifth day lunch, we had deep fried pork steak with
bigos and mesh potato. During the meal, one of my best Pole friends Patryk mentioned
that this meal is what his mother would make in Sunday (if I do not recall it mistakenly)
and it’s a very common Polish food. Deep fried meat is considered delicious and
high calories for me at the same time.
Furthermore, I think Polish people may consume more salt in
their meal. In some occasions, when my Pole friends ask me how do I feel about
the meal, I was totally honest and I told them it was good, but a little bit
over salty for me (some of my course mate felt the same as I did). Then I asked
my Pole friends their opinion about the meal and it turned out they feel just
fine about the saltiness of the meal. I guess it’s the diet habit difference
between us lead this diversity of opinions.
In the end, I don’t think what I saw (or ate) in the 7 days
can subjectively represent for a whole picture of Polish cuisine. However, it
does represent my personal perspective. I did enjoy my 7 days food (at least
most of them) and I wish, if possible, I could experience and explore further
in Pole cuisine.
