Seasonality & Freshness. A word about Polish cuisine

If you are about to try traditional Polish cuisine, you'd better forget about counting calories! Typical Polish meals as such are notorious for being very meaty and hearty with lots of potatoes, beetroots, gherkins, cabbage, bread, sausage and... a shot of vodka to help it all digest! lol However, the style of cooking is still evolving, it is truth that we mostly reach for soups, large meat portions and sweet desserts. 

I bet some of you wonder how Poles manage to keep their fine figures without paying too much attention to calories... Here's the secret.

It took me a while to think how to fully define Polish cuisine and I think the word that says it all is SEASONALITY. There are four proper seasons in Poland which appear in the following cycle: a soaking wet autumn, bitter cold winter, rainy spring and scorching hot summer and no wonder these changes, to such a great extend, determine what we eat. To give you an idea how it works I will give you a quick example. During hot summer Poles mainly stick to seasonal veg soups, summer fruits cocktails and hectolitres of fizzy drinks, while in winter we opt for larger portions of more calorific and stodgy food (potato rules!!! lol). To face the cold body requires more fat then naturally burns it in the heat. At least that's my theory :) 

Another distinctive feature of Polish food is its FRESHNESS. However big and stodgy portions are, they are always made of organic, locally grown and fresh ingredients! And even though many of our traditional dishes are often demanding in preparation, we allow ourselves taking time in cooking and enjoying the meal. So as you can see, every dish is home-made and 100% fresh! 

Again, many thanks to Kamil Bankowski, the author of the photograph, who kindly agreed for it to be published on this site. For more photographs by Kamil visit his official website: www.irart.pl. 

Out of spite, I am going to say: Polish cuisine does not have to be boring! There are tones of exciting recipes (unknown to the rest of the world) that are quick to make, easy on the wallet and super tasty! I will keep you posted! x