Vegetarianism and Healthy Foods in Poland

How many vegans/vegetarians are there in Poland? Are there many shops which sell "health food" (without preservatives and white sugar and other such things.)

Are there vegan/vegetarian versions of Polish cuisine? =)

not many (vegetarians nor shops)

in my small city (30.000 people) there's 1 shop with "health food", I think, and there are some small stands in most markets, but for example usully I can't even find a natural soya sauce (water, soya, salt, wheat, nothing else) for weeks, so it's hard.
When I was living in Poznań (450.000 inhabitants) I had no problems with shopping or veggie restaurants, even 10 years ago, so it's not bad in bigger cities, but the small ones suck.

and of course there are vegetarian versions of Polish food, for example no meat bigos, vegetarian gołąbki, etc., all as good as the meat versions, IMHO (for me of course much better)

Thank you. =) I' m a vegan on account of my beliefs--but no I'm not Hindu =D ; I'm Catholic

Anyway I am glad to know that =)

YOU WANT OT BE VEGETERIAN IN THE LAND OF KIELBASA? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? LOL

ACTUALLY THERE ARE QUITE A FEW RECIPIES IN POLISH KUCHNIA THAT ARE VEG ONLY AS POLES HAVE EXPERIENCED SOME TROUBLES OVER THE CENTURIES AND MEAT HASN'T ALWAYS BEEN AVAILABLE.

POTAO CAKES
CREPES,
ALL SORTS OF SOUPS,
AND SOME MAIN DISHES THAT WERE JUST MENIONED.. THERE IS MORE BUT YOU'LL HAVE TO LOOK AROUND A LITTLE.

GOOGLE "POLSKA KUCHNIA" FOR RESULTS IN POLISH OR "POLISH COOKING" TO GET SIMILAR ONES IN ENGLISH.

OK how shall I put it...
If someone claims that is polish but doesnt eat our fine kielbasa nor bigos nor many others delicious meals (Tatar one of my favorites - raw meat which is prepared in a specific way)
then something is wrong with that person.

- my point of view.

you have Caps Lock button on your keyboard

correct. i do

lol :D

Though I could quite happily live on placki kartoflane, pierogi ruskie, chleb z powidłami, zupa ogórkowa, pączki, and barszcz z uszkami :)

YOU CAN RUDA. THAT'S SOME YUMMY STUFF TOO. YOU DON'T LIKE NALESNIKI?

yeah of course I do, but I never make them... not sure why. lol

they are a little tough to make. it could be me though. :D

lol, I NEVER ate tatar in my life (nor móżdżek), and I stopped eating meat when I was 17 yrs old, so I had a plenty of opportunities, but I just couldn't take such barbarian dishes in my mouth.
and bigos is really fine without meat
kiełbasa and "kurczak z rożna" were my favorites, I missed their taste even 5 years after I had stopped eating meat, but I was strong and resisted :)

Why place vegetarianism and health in the same sentence without a negation particle in between?

Healthy food means a balance of foods. Humans have always eaten meat, and it is the best way for us to continue.
I eat fresh food, local food, tasty food, good food. There are plenty of vegetarians who eat sh1t.
Vegetables don't supply all the nutrients we need - most of the methods of bulking up these nutrients to natural levels require the consumption of unnatural products with bad flavour or no flavour.
Pills or bacon?
Hmmm! Not too tricky, that one!

I totaly agree!
this vegan food needs to be boosted with all sorts of chemistry so that they can make the perfect soya chop. Its meet free sure - but they cant guarantee that you wont gain an extra leg.

Nobody is saying that one should eat a big steak everyday cuz that will kill you.
But if I didnt eat a red tasty chop once in a while I'd go crazy.

So much of what we eat comes from animals.
Even dairy products result in the deaths of animals - how else do you make a cow produce enough milk?
This either leads to veganism, with which we would never appreciate any good food, or all wither away through lack of energy,
or omnivory where we eat a bit of this, a bit of that, and accept our place in the animal knigdom.
How many animals could we keep all over the countryside if there were no animals there for our nutrition?
Cows, sheep, pigs - they all have cute faces.
They also taste good.
Just don't talk about eating donkey.

close your eyes donkey this might be painfull.

you can get almost all the nutrients out of veggies.. one has to be a little crative though.

red chops? dude, pork HAS to be cooked fully otherwise you may get sick.

a cow has to be killed to be miled? now, that's the first one. what have you been on donk? ;) :D

Like beans?


So?

beans won't kill you, they'll only give you gas





so? that makes no sense.. you don't have to kill a cow to milk it.. pull on the tit man. don't you know how to do that? hehe

I wonder why non-vegans are often not very gracious at all to vegans?

The reason I am a vegan, is because of moral reasons...as Krzysztof said, it is barbaric. I could say a lot more...

Anyway, although of course many vegans eat unhealthy food, the healthiest people are vegans and they most certainly are not weak and withering away. I don't even want things that taste like dead animals, but soy milk is very nice. I have to go now but I would like to keep this thread active and I would love to hear more from Krzysztof and from other vegans as well.

And of course you can be Polish and vegan. Look in my heart and you will see Poland in there =) and two of my dearest friends, Polish, are vegans.

True, but how do you produce sufficient to provide enough milk for the market?
There needs to be more calves than can be kept for milking.

barbar = slav in old roman. :D :D

and i beg to differ on you assertion that vegans are the healthiest.. not necessarily true at all. barbaric? do you eat fish, eggs, or cheese? soy milk sounds so natural i can barely stand it.. yum. :(

Ok you might think your healthy and that your died is full.
If your a women that tries to keep her line and watch her diet then beeing a vegan might make things easier.
But is it realy a full and healthy diet?

I dont think you will ever see a labourer or a military men living off vegan diet!
Thats the best example there is! people who need a lot of energy on daily basis need more then soya and potatos can give them.

I myself have balanced diet.
Lots of mean (ah! polish chops and kilebasa) also diary products, vegetables. And I doubt I would be in shape I am now if my diet wouldnt include meat which is its vital part!

i did just fine on fruits only. i bet i had more energy then most.

Maybe for a short run. Fruits have sugar and vitamins. But for a longer run that wouldnt be enough. Plus living only of fruits is just an excuse for beeing cheap.

A strictly friut diet can be bad for you in the long run. You need your calories and protien or your body will eventually go into starvation mode.


Much of the food in PL is preservative free. Thungs are changing though.

I've seen a few vegetarian restaurants in poland. There may be a few threads here if you search. Good luck.

it was a short run.. i never mentioned being all fruity and stuff.

Humans are meat and vegetable eating animals. We evolved to hunt and gather.
Farming is an ancient practice and can substitute the natural hunter-gatherer diet well.
Fast-food and vegetarianism are as bad as eachother.
Neither give balance to the nutrition we require, the satisfaction of food or the tradition that makes every culture and every individual different.
Be a vegetarian, but don't make other people vegetarians - you deny their rights to be the human animals they are born as.

I'm actualy proud to say that I made my friend quit vegetarianism by showing him how good polish kilebasa is ;)