It is a well-known fact that Poles have a hard time living in Great Britain without their beloved national food. Poles who moved to the UK brought with them their culinary habits, their tastes and their passion for homemade Polish specialities. 

This phenomenon can easily be observed by the number of restaurants with Polish specialities across the UK. What’s more, it is interesting to note that Polish cuisine is also well-appreciated by Brits themselves. 

Polish flavours haven’t been anything exotic in Great Britain for a long time. They have settled here as well as Italian, Indian, Chinese or Japanese cuisine. Due to the numerous Polish shops and restaurants, it can be said without hesitation that both Poles and Brits love Polish cuisine.

Both Poles and Brits like to eat properly, which may not necessarily be considered healthy and consistent with the widely understood „fit” food. It is certainly an element that connects the inhabitants of Poland with the British in terms of culinary taste. 

British dishes are said to be rather bland, tasteless and not very expressive. This, however, can hardly be said about Polish cuisine. Undoubtedly, Poles like well-seasoned dishes, let them be sour, let them be salty, but their taste must be palpable to the maximum. As a general rule, the British like seasoned dishes. As a matter of fact, their taste for the strength and expressiveness of Polish cuisine is not so surprising. 

Pierogies are by far the most famous and best-appreciated Polish speciality in Britain. Even though they are commonly served boiled, pierogies can also be baked or fried. Among the other typical Polish foods appreciated by Brits, let us cite cabbage rolls, bigos, kopytka (little hooves), gołąbki (dumplings encased in cabbage leaf) but also cold cuts and meat products in general such as pasztety (patés) or karkówka (pork shoulder).

Similarly to their Polish counterparts, Brits also have a taste for sweet stuff such as the „naleshniki”, which are prepared differently than British „pancakes”, but also pączki (doughnuts) and sernik (baked cheesecake). Regarding drinks, a rise in boutique brewing can be observed in Poland. Brits have taken to Polish lagers such as Tyskie and Żywiec among others. 

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen

Source: theguardian.com

Picture: Caroline Byczynski