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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Kraków
Braided bread ring first boiled in very hot water and then baked, topped with salt, poppy seeds, or sesame. It’s sold from street carts in Kraków and has a European Union protected geographical indication.
Traditional dish from Kraków, Pequena Polônia
Also known as: obwarzanek, obwarzanki krakowskie
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Obwarzanek krakowski — Kraków, Poland
The obwarzanek krakowski is a ring-shaped braided roll made from two or three strands of dough coiled into a spiral and closed into a ring or oval. The dough contains wheat flour, fat, sugar, yeast, salt and water. Before baking, each ring is scalded in very hot water; this step, called obwarzanie, gives the bread its name and creates a shiny, firm crust with a soft, slightly sweet crumb. Toppings include salt, poppy seeds or sesame.
The earliest mentions of obwarzanek in Kraków date back to the late 14th century. In the Middle Ages, only bakers appointed by the guild could bake it, and it was sold only during Lent. Kraków city records show that permission was likely extended to all city bakers around 1849.
On October 30, 2010, the European Commission registered obwarzanek krakowski in the Protected Geographical Indications register. The product specification sets the size: 12 to 17 cm in diameter, braid thickness 2 to 4 cm, and weight between 80 and 120 g. Production is limited to the city of Kraków and the Kraków and Wieliczka districts. Because the shape is made by hand, no two rings are identical.
On the street, obwarzanek is sold from carts with display windows and eaten by hand as a snack. To identify a product covered by the geographical indication, you can look at the bottom of the ring, which shows the long grill marks from where it was baked, and check for the blue PGI seal at points of sale. The city holds a festival dedicated to obwarzanek and has a living museum where you can learn how to roll, scald and bake the ring.
Kraków , Pequena Polônia
Kraków is the city of obwarzanek: the ring has been baked there since the Middle Ages and may bear the geographical indication name only when made in the city or in the neighbouring districts.
Wheat flour, fat, sugar, yeast, salt and water. Topped with salt, poppy seeds or sesame.
Whole, eaten with the hand, bought on the street while still warm. It can accompany coffee or be eaten on its own as a snack.
Everyday food, with no fixed date. In the past it was sold only during Lent.
Your questions
A braided bread ring scalded in hot water and then baked, topped with salt, poppy seeds or sesame. It’s Kraków’s street snack and has a European Union protected geographical indication since 2010.
Both are scalded before baking, but obwarzanek krakowski is made from coiled strands of dough, has a firmer, shinier crust and is sold whole, without fillings, from Kraków’s street carts.
By the bottom, which shows the long grill marks from where it was baked, and by the blue protected geographical indication seal at points of sale. Only bakeries in Kraków and the Kraków and Wieliczka districts may use the name.
Flavors of Poland
Stew of sauerkraut and cabbage with various meats, smoked sausage and dried mushrooms, slowly cooked and reheated over days until the flavors meld. It is one of the dishes most connected to Polish identity and appears in the national poem Pan Tadeusz.
Round yeast dough pastry, fried, without a hole, filled with jam—traditionally rose petal or plum—and dusted with sugar or covered in icing. It’s the sweet of Tłusty Czwartek, the fatty Thursday before Lent, celebrated across the country.
Dumplings made from unleavened dough, boiled in water and sometimes browned in butter, with savory or sweet fillings. The ruskie, filled with potato and fresh cheese, are the most common, and the cabbage with mushrooms variety is served on Christmas Eve.
Vodka made entirely in Poland from rye, wheat, barley, oats, triticale or potatoes grown in the country. The name is a national geographical indication that applies to both neutral vodka and flavored vodkas that follow the rules.
A sour soup made with zakwas, a fermented rye-flour starter, served with white sausage, a boiled egg and horseradish. It is one of the most important dishes of the Polish Easter and is sometimes served inside a loaf of bread.
Smoked pork cooked with dried plums, pears and other fruits, served with a sweet-and-sour fruit sauce and dumplings. The name means Silesian heaven, and the dish is on the Lower Silesia Traditional Products List.
A round wheat dough disk topped with raw chopped onion and poppy seed, baked until the edge is golden. It originated in the Jewish bakeries of Lublin’s old town and has a European Union protected geographical indication.
Yeast-based cake covered with a buttery streusel, made plain or filled with white cheese, poppy seed or apple. It is the wedding cake of Opole Silesia and has a European Union protected geographical indication.
Grated raw potato cake with fried bacon, onion, eggs and a little flour, baked in a pan until the crust is golden. It’s one of the most popular dishes of Podlaskie, the northeastern region of Poland, and is on the List of Traditional Products.
Flavored vodka with bison grass that grows in the clearings of the Białowieża and Knyszyn forests in Podlaskie. It has a light green-golden color and the smell of dry hay, and the official name is a protected geographical indication of the European Union.
Croissant in a crescent shape, made from yeast-leavened puff pastry, filled with white poppy seed paste with fruit and nuts, and topped with icing and chopped nuts. It is Poznań’s Saint Martin’s pastry, eaten on November 11, and has protected geographical indication.
Beef roulade stuffed with bacon, pickled cucumber and onion, cooked in sauce and served with kluski śląskie — potato dumplings with a little indentation in the middle — and red cabbage. It’s the Sunday lunch of Upper Silesia.
Long pastry made from leavened dough, fried and usually filled with seasoned ground meat with pepper. It originated in Szczecin in the early 1970s, made on a Soviet machine from 1969, and is on Poland’s List of Traditional Products.
Honey cake with pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and other spices, molded in wooden molds or cut into shapes. It has been made in Toruń without interruption since the Middle Ages and is on Poland’s national list of intangible cultural heritage.
Two-layer chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream in the middle, covered in chocolate and often topped with a cherry. It originated in Warsaw in the late 1940s, and the name is linked to the W-Z avenue, opened during the city’s reconstruction.
A very sour sauerkraut soup with smoked pork ribs or other smoked pork, served with boiled potato on the side or with bread. It’s the dish of the highlanders of Podhale, the Zakopane region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains.
