Eating in the past

Most components that made up the menu in rural areas in the past came from peasants’ production. Other products, such as tea, coffee, wine, cane sugar, salt and spices were purchased. An important element of the landowner’s menu

was venison, which was consumed during the hunting seasons.

In a landowner’s house the most important and most abundant meal was dinner. It depended on the

responsibilities of the host, the family had to patiently wait for his arrival. The whole family sat together at the table

for meals.

The hosts sat in the best place and were served first, if there were no guests. Young children who couldn’t use

cutley ate meals alone in the kitchen. Parents didn’t accept misbehaviour and severely punished their children.

In wealthy houses on the table there was a white tablecloth, vases, but above all elegant dinner sets, beautiful glasses and cutlery. In the mid-nineteenth century, all the dishes,

except for soup, were eaten with fingers.

In wealthy houses, peoplt drank tea in the afternoon. It usually consisted of bread, butter, cakes, fruit and

beverages. During the summer, rich people often served them in the garden or on the veranda.

The evening supper consisted of several dishes, both hot and cold.

Common people ate simple dishes. It was not until the late nineteenth century when they began to use salt and other

simple spices. They thought that the food was good if it was fat.

They rarely ate meat, mostly vegetables. The most common ingredients was cereal.

Meat was not eaten every day because it was expensive. Common people ate meat only on special occasions.

There were usually three meals a day, but during harvest there were four and before harvest – two.

Breakfast usually consisted of soup, cabbage and potatoes. For lunch they often ate the same thing, only in larger

quantities and with the addition of bread. For dinner they ate lunch leftovers. Thanks to this housewifes saved time.

They spent only a few hours on cooking in the morning, and then they kept the food warm. Due to the difficult living

conditions of the peasants any waste of food was unacceptable.

Peasants ate dairy and cereal products every day. They often ate potatoes. They sometimes added vegetables, for example, cabbage, turnips, swedes and carrots. They were

available throughout the year because housewives preserved them through ensiling, drying and mounds. In

the nineteenth century peasants began to eat bread. It was baked once a week in special ovens.

At the end of the nineteenth century Rural Women’s Clubs played a large role. They promoted healthy food, new recipies and

cooking novelties. However, eating habits in rural areas changed slowly. The more often a family ate meat, the more wealthy it

was.

People ate simple food because they lived in a simple way. They ate sitting on benches. Food was served in a clay bowl. The whole family usually ate from one bowl with wooden spoons. Forks were

used only in very wealthy houses. Peasants remembered about the hierarchy of eating - the host ate first, then the rest of the

family.

People who ate fast shown bad manners. Guests were treated very well. They usually received separate plates. The habit of

eating at a table appeared in the last decades of the nineteenth century. When the crocery became cheaper, people stopped

eating from one bowl.

A SAMPLE OF PEASANTS’ MENU

Breakfast: porridge with sweet milk, noodles with milk, whey bread with beetroot soup, potatoes with milk, żur,

coffee or tea with bread.

Lunch: potatoes with cabbage, beans, peas, buckwheat, sometimes dumplings, soup and meat.

Afternoon snack: bread with milk, bread with cheese, cream cheese, cottage cheese with sweet milk, and sliced cold

potatoes with sour milk.

Supper: potatoes with sour milk, noodles,, pearl barley with sweet milk.

It’s the soup with beet,

fresh cabbage and potatoes,

sometimes beans or

mushrooms.

BEETROOT SOUP

Pierogi are known in

Poland from the thirteenth

century.

PIEROGI

Pierogi can be filled with

potoatoes and white cheese,

cabbage, mushrooms and

even fruit (in summer).

It is a „trashy” soup made out of very

simple products - vegetables, e.g. a

few potatoes, spices, onions and flour. It’s cheap,

easy to make, stodgy and tastes brilliant. The soup

is served with homemade noodles.

DZIADOWSKA SPÓŁKA

Slices of bread spread with a thick layer of sour cream and

sugar

BREAD WITH SOUR CREAM AND SUGAR

It’s a very simple dish.

It’s only pasta with

warm milk.

MILK SOUP

It’s a very simple but tasty dish.

Pour milk to boiled

potatoes.

POTATOES WITH MILK

It’s a simple dessert made of raw egg yolks

and sugar.

KOGEL MOGEL

The soup is prepared with beans, smoked

bacon, potatoes, garlic and marjoram.

BEAN SOUP

BIGOS

Bigos is known as a typical hunter’s

stew. Typical ingredients

include white cabbage ,

sauerkraut, mushrooms,

various cuts of meat and

sausages. Bigos is usually served

with mashed potatoes or

bread. We often keep a pot of

bigos for a week or more. It is a

popular Christmas dish.

Traditional soda bread from

Podkarpacie. They taste best with butter and cottage cheese.

PROZIAKI

Flaki is a traditional Polish meat stew

(since 14th century) in the form of a soup. The main ingredient is beef tripe (fragments of the stomach). Flaki

is eaten with fresh bread.

FLAKI

It is a food product produced from milk. It is not the same as spoiled milk that has gone bad

naturally. Soured milk is commonly made at

home. We drink it with various dishes or simply

with boiled potatoes, but never with meat.

SOURED MILK

HOME MADE PRODUCTS

CreamButterCottage cheese

Wikipedia

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www.apette.pl

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www.czarodziejska.wordpress.com

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http://nenechasobie.blogspot.com/2014/09/gesta-kwasna-smietana-domowej-roboty.html

SOURCES