Polish Cuisine - Modern Era

Modern Era

With the end of communism in Poland in 1989, avalanche of new restaurants started to open and basic foodstuffs were once again easily obtainable. This led to a gradual return of rich traditional Polish cuisine, both in everyday life and in restaurants. In addition, restaurants and supermarkets promoted the use of ingredients typical to other cuisines of the world. Among the most notable foods that started to become common in Poland were cucurbit, zucchini and all kinds of fish. During communist times, these were available fresh mostly in the seaside regions.

Recent years have seen the advent of a slow food movement, and a number of TV programmes devoted to other cuisins and as well as traditional Polish cuisine, they have gained much popularity. In 2011 a nostalgic cookbook (written in English) combining a child's memories growing up in the Gierek era with traditional Polish recipes was published in London

Fast food, most commonly McDonald's chain, KFC and Pizza Hut are losing on popularity. Meantime Doner kebabs are gaining popularity. Nonetheless, in most of Poland you can still get traditional Polish fast-food such as zapiekanka. There are also many small-scale, quick-service restaurants which usually serve items such as zapiekanka (baguette with cheese, mushrooms, onion or peppers, sometimes meat and ketchup), kebab, hamburgers, hot dogs and sausage. In Warsaw, Poland's capital city, a 3-course meal in one of Warsaw's top restaurant's costs on average twenty-six GBP.