Culture
Art plays a significant role in Polish public life. Poland has a lively cultural scene with around 280 art festivals taking place across the country, during which you can enjoy all types of music, film, theatre and visual arts.
Poles are sociable and love to show affection when greeting one another. The first few minutes of every meeting is spent on greeting each other and shaking hands. Younger people wait until older people shake their hands. Familiarity is expressed with embraces and kisses on cheeks.
Because of the language barrier people may seem reserved at first, but after a short time, they can turn out to be friendly, open and helpful. You will really be able to make some long-lasting friendships with Polish people during the course of your studies at WUT.
Polish cuisine is very tasty and you can choose from many traditional dishes. Typical meals include meat and potatoes. Poles are true potato lovers and many meals have been based on this vegetable throughout the centuries. Polish cuisine and dining table etiquette is a reflection of Polish warm and hospitable character. Having a family meal is always a celebration and guests are welcome.
Breakfast is very important and generally rich. Most people have sandwiches, some have scrambled eggs or cereal with milk. A traditional Polish meal is composed of three courses, an appetizer – most frequently a soup, the main course – with some type of meat – e.g. a roast or pork chop with potatoes and salad, and then a dessert. Suppers tend to be lighter.
Most popular traditional Polish dishes are:
- Bigos – sauerkraut (kapusta kiszona) stewed with meat, sausage, mushrooms, red wine and spices;
- Pierogi – dumplings stuffed with meat, sauerkraut and mushrooms, cottage cheese, spinach or fruit;
- Kotlet schabowy – pork chop, usually served with potatoes and salad;
- Placki ziemniaczane – fried potato pancakes served usually with meat, stew, cream or sugar;
- Żurek – egg and sausage savoury soup
- Zupa grzybowa – mushroom soup;
- Zupa pomidorowa – tomato soup, served with noodles;
- Rosół – chicken soup, served with noodles;
- Gołąbki – rolled cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice;
- Kompot – traditional Polish fruit juice from freshly cooked fruit, such as: apples, strawberries, sour cherries, gooseberries, peaches or apricots.
Nowadays, mainly in big cities, dishes from other countries have become very popular: Japanese sushi, Chinese noodles, Vietnamese Pho soup, and Turkish Kebab but to name a few.