More than just food

A rich variety of bread types is an important feature of Polish traditional cuisine. Bread has been manufactured since the 13th century and has a special meaning in Polish culture. Respect for bread has religious and patriotic foundations. Thanks to widespread grain crop bread used to be a cornerstone of peasants’ diet, but it was also served on the tables of workers, traders, manufacturers or noblemen. It is a well-known custom to welcome important guests with bread and salt.  At Polish weddings, parents greet the newly-weds with bread and salt. Bread was treated as a godsend and until recently it was marked with the sign of the cross before eating. It was forbidden to drop even a single crumb. Polish national poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid wrote in a famous poem:

For that land where a scrap of bread is picked up

From the ground out of reverence

For Heaven's gifts...

I am homesick, Lord!...

C.K. Norwid, My song (II), source of translation: babelmatrix.org

Tradition versus modern lifestyle

What is interesting, despite centuries of baking tradition the consumption of bread in Poland systematically falls. According to data from the Polish Bread Institute, in 2015 it was a little more than 45 kilos per person while the following year it was only 42 kilos. A quarter of a century ago this figure was twice as high. In fact, Poland does not even lead in European bread consumption statistics, with Turkey at the top of the list. The downward trend is due most likely to changes in eating habits including a belief that bread makes people fat and should not be part of a balanced diet. It is not entirely true, though. Excessive consumption of wholewheat bread can have negative consequences, but at the same time bread is an important source of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Rye bread has a particularly positive influence on our health.

Foreign successes

Despite a fall in bread consumption on the local market, the Polish baking industry does not have to fear for its future – baking products are a leading Polish food export. In the first half of 2018, 277 tons of bread and pastry were sold abroad (including 38,4 tons outside the EU). Bread is mostly exported as frozen dough and baked in the country of destination. There is also some good news for fresh Polish bread lovers. Polish bread is manufactured abroad, not only for the many Poles living out of Poland  but also to conquer foreign tables. Polish bakeries are opening across Europe and beyond, mostly in countries with a strong Polish community, such as the UK or the Netherlands. The owner of several dozen bakeries in Canada exports his products to the US. In 2002, the Ciszkowski brothers from Ciechanowiec opened a bakery in Brussels, not because they lived there, but to use it as a springboard for expansion at home and abroad. Their idea turned out to be successful – it is said to be the first time after World War 2 when residents of Brussels were queuing for bread. The Polish baking industry was also noticed in 2010, when Polish baker Andrzej Szydłowski was awarded the “World Baker of the Year” title by the International Union of Bakers and Confectioners.