Polish cuisine is quite varied and original. As for the products, it is similar to the cuisine of Slavic peoples, but also has the elements of Western European culinary traditions. All dishes are prepared with skill, but portions are very large, so to eat the whole portion you will have to take the trouble. Spices are rarely used, but with great skill, to make exclusively tasty dishes.
In Poland one of the most popular dishes is soup. There is a huge pile of them: "Zurek", "krupnyak", "kapusnyak", "rosol", "botvinka" etc. Polish cabbage soup, soup made of fresh cucumbers and a variety of borsches, prepared using different recipes are also popular.
Among the meat dishes in the Polish cuisine presents sausages, ham with horseradish, roast veal, calf's brains with herbs, "flyaki, stewed chickens, roast duck, goose with apples, roast wild boar and the famous "bigos" etc.
The dishes from fish are also well-known: roast pike, roast fish with horseradish, herring salad, herring in the cream sauce, carp, Polish carp, tench or bream with the polish sauce, fish meatballs with the sauce with gherkins, hunting fish soup, etc.
In Poland the mushrooms in any form is a popular element of the cuisine. Also used cucumbers, red beet salad, potato salad with beans, a pumpkin pancakes with sausage, etc. Potato is served fried or boiled and in the form of the pancakes with onions and sour cream. Top Polish fast food dish is "baked pudding", a long bun, baked with onion, cheese and mushrooms.
Bakery is an essential feature of the Polish cuisine. Dumplings, pies, cottage cheese pancakes, lazanki with cracklings and stuffed ears are very popular. The traditional dishes are the small cakes "mazurek" or "makovnik", as well as jams, cakes and other pastries.
Alcoholic drinks in Poland are allowed to be sold to 18 year old persons. Some restaurants even have special rooms where alcoholic drinks are not sold.
In Poland beer is very popular, but most people prefer vodka (Vyborova, Zubrovka) and liqueurs (Myslivska, Apelsinovka). Soft drinks are also popular, kvass, kissels and juices. The most popular appetizer is herring with oil and onion. All dishes of the Polish cuisine you can easily find in the menus of the restaurants, snack bars and cafes.
