Poland Food Delights: when the underdog veggies become the heroes!

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Food, for me anyway, is always an integral part of any travel adventure!

It’s not just about sustenance, it’s an essential and fascinating part of the whole experience, an extra layer of interest and joy … and well yes, the yumminess!!

Poland did not disappoint!

From iconic PIEROGI dumplings (and that sauerkraut filling!) to bright red BARSZCZ and rich hearty BIGOS, it was a revelation. Comforting solid food, traditional and based on local ingredients – who doesn’t love that?!

The humble potato is raised to almost sacred status, it’s often just a side attraction in our world but out east, it has a central starring role. Cabbage too (GOŁĄBKI rolls and KAPUSTA KISZONA sauerkraut) is also elevated beyond a mere ingredient! And I’m all in for the underdog becoming the hero – especially in vegetable land!😃

It’s always more interesting when food has a back STORY; it is an integral part of a national or cultural identity. This is especially true in certain countries – I certainly found that South Korea for example (read the blog on that one!), and I really felt it here in Poland.

Nowhere more so was that the case than when visiting a ‘Bar Mleczny’ over the river from old Warsaw. It literally means a MILK BAR, from the early days when they used a lot of dairy products.

They have become a uniquely Polish culinary and cultural phenomenon since the first one opened in 1896. Put simply, they are a no-frills cafeteria style eateries, to provide cheap and nutritious meals to everyday peeps. Unsurprisingly they became very important during the communist era after the war, and visiting one today feels like a TIME WARP EXPERIENCE, offering a glimpse into a complicated and unhappy period of Poland’s past (it’s been a tough ride but what a tough and truly brilliantly stubborn nation) – but it was an absolute opportunity to eat authentic, honest, home cooked Polish food. Yes please!

A shout out and huge thanks to a lovely Polish guy on a train journey, pootling through Poland, who explained the nostalgia involved in these milk bars, the “grandmas” who classically did the cooking, providing generous portions of the comfort food from their past…all part of a heartwarming experience.

This particular milk bar was called ‘BAR RUSAŁKA’ in Warsaw (which apparently is a benevolent spirit or nymph from pre-Christian mythology … adding further to the time travel element!)

It really felt like stepping into a film set for a soviet-era spy film – ok, I might have got a little carried away there 🤣 … but … spartan functional interior, simple wooden tables and stark strip lighting, the only thing warming and light was the lovely big smile of the lady manning the order booth.

Above said ordering booth, there are boards with lists of dishes available, all in Polish as one would assume! Once that has been deciphered, the lovely lady with the big smile scribbles your order on a scrap piece of paper – you head over to the counter – behind which there is a very busy kitchen full of very active older ladies creating culinary delights, accompanied by the soothing sounds of pots and pans and ladles – a well organised operation 👏 .

You pass your order over the counter to the ladies cooking up a Polish storm beyond. Your dishes are placed on the counter, you collect, and off to a table.

No frills cafeteria style ; no booze, no atmospheric music, no decor…. just plates of comfort food of the highest comfortness – I thought it deserved a new word !

Now quiet please – I’m eating!! 🤣