Food taboo, therapeutic food: Questions about the food culture in Poland

I am doing a research on the food culture in Poland. Does anyone know the food taboo in poland? And, the therapeutic uses of food and wine.

the only one I can think of is not to drink milk with meat because it might make you sick.

Chicken soup is for colds and flues.

sour milk for hang over

vodka with black pepper for stomachache

For the therapeutic use of wine look up NALEWKI LECZNICZE you will find one for every ailment, all are Spirytus based.

i thought this is therapy for bad mood :)

yah, mood enhancer/muscle ralaxant LOL

yah, mood enhancer/muscle ralaxant

First discovered by Dr. Bruce Banner

Yes there are a few traditions.... The ones that come to mind are that tea with milk (bawarka) is usually only drunk by pregnant and nursing women, a syrup of onion and sugar is used for curing colds in children and for adult colds it's hot tea, fruit syrup and a shot of sliwowica. A long time ago, Polish wine (and I don't mean spirytus) was used by pharmacists to make medicines by dissolving various substances in it (or so a pharmacist friend of mine told me). Lamb/sheep meat isn't often eaten because it's thought to smell.

My friend uses garlic when she has a cold and sore throat (needless to say I avoid her when she's not well). Is this a common thing to use for the cold?

I offered to take the small daughter of a friend to buy ice cream only to be told by daddy that she couldnt eat ice cream because she had a sore throat. Imagine how upset the poor girl was when I did my little 'I got an ice cream, you havent got one, do you want some of my ice cream? Bah, psyc!' dance in front of her.

That is sheer cruelty. ;)

As kids we used to claim we had sore throats so we'd get ice cream.

Somewhere on here there should be a thread with dozens of uses for vodka, other than drinking it.

Strep throat bacteria thrive in the cold. I know, I defied them several times. And paid dearly for it... ;-(((

And garlic is a natural antibiotic so yes, it's very useful when you've got an infection. If you cook it before eating (e.g. fry, or boil in your soup), it does not smell after consumption. Or, properly speaking, you do not smell ;-)

Those "old wives' tales" are very often 100% spot on.

Exactly. But daddy insisted that ice cream was a definate no-no for sore throats. Poor little girl had to settle for a pack of MnMs. What a compromise!

While you were dancing around with an ice cream? Poor little lass.


I was informed on Saturday (after twisting my knee) that vinegar and cold water is good to put on it to help swelling and pain.

Yeah. Of course. Nothing wrong with my throat :)

That's because you ate ice cream. Imagine being that poor kid with a sore throat and having crunch up and try and swallow the shell of an M&M...

For cold....hot milk+crushed garlic+honey+ butter ...

Not in this house. Yuk !

This is probably what my friend took. I don't know, I didn't get near enough to ask her ;) Definitely was garlic though.

Ha ha ha...I know sound terrible, but it's works. At least my huband think that is the best way to cure flu or cold..

Yummy, garlic. I still recall fondly a restaurant in San Francisco called the Stinking Rose (part of a chain?) where everything on the menu had garlic in it. Even the ice cream.

Merged: What is the polish businesspeople favorite food?

I do business with Polish people. Every time, my polish customer come to China, they did not eat Chinese food. I wonder what kind of food do polish people like?

Potatoes, cabbage and fried chicken or some other meat.
In comparison to Chinese food, European food is bland.
There are many Polish cuisine recipes available on this site.

Thank you.