What communism did to Polish food

A NATION’S cuisine can sometimes provide a nice history lesson. Take Poland, for instance. With Polish food boasting German, Jewish, Russian and Hungarian influences it reflects the sometimes startling ebb and flow of people and national borders that was once characteristic of central and eastern Europe. Yet along with the good, food can also reflect the sad and bad aspects of history. The 40 years of communism Poland endured battered its food. Communism did to the national cuisine what it did to so much else and reduced it to the lowest common denominator: uniform and bland stodge characterised by poor ingredients, low standards and low expectations.

In the years following the end of communism the country became awash with fast-food places and pizza parlours. But with the notable exception of a few excellent restaurants Polish food seemed to be stuck in something of rut. About six years ago our correspondent asked a celebrity chef in Poland what he thought of Polish food, and got a two-word answer comprising of a couple of expletives. He described it as "survival food," and moaned about how you could only get one type of potato in Poland despite the vegetable being one of the...Continue reading