Old Polish Cuisine - History of Food in Poland
Old Polish cuisine developed on the basis of old-Slavic cuisine. The first cultivated plants included rye and wheat, millet and barley. Poles made kasha (groats) (English "kasha" comes from Slavic word kasza) from millet (proso), lentils (soczewica), barley (jeczmien) and oats (owies) - these grains were suitable in Polish climate to grow. Kasha or porridge or thick gruel are still used as a part of thick nourishing soups and they are the precursors of today cereal with milk. Kasha was often flavored with plumbs (sliwki) or mushrooms (grzyby). Mushrooms - cultivated and the wild-growing ones and forest berries jagody are until now the important part of Polish cuisine.
The most famous types of kasha is buckwheat kasha (kasza gryczana) and it is a part of Christmas supper. There are many types of kashas produced from barley (kasza jeczmienna), other groats are produced from millet (kasza jaglana) or from corn (kasza kukurydziana).
Poles love soups, because of the climate, with long and cold winters and few vegetables and fruits in some times of the year. The oldest Polish soups are the ones based on kasha - for example, the lentil soup and the soups made of fermented rye (zur). The soup based on kasha which is very popular in Poland until now is called krupnik.
The most popular drinks of the past included beer (piwo) made of barley and mead (miod pitny) made of honey (miod). Poles also made a soup with beer called beer soup (zupa piwna).
