Rye bread, farmer’s cheese, and hot tea: How to prepare a Polish breakfast

I eat my first meal of the day around 11 am or noon (unless you count coffee). It’s usually nothing special—a bowl of oatmeal, a piece of fruit, some yogurt.

As a kid, a “meal” like that was unheard of, especially in our Polish household. Weekdays, my dad and sister left for work before 7 am, so my mom would usually make me sandwiches or scrambled eggs. Our weekend breakfasts, where the 4 of us joined in, were much more elaborate.

Breakfast was always a special meal in our family. All of us would join in the preparations: cutting bread, slicing tomatoes, boiling eggs, plating the meats and cheeses. There were plenty of tasks to go around.

Back in Poland, especially before the 2000’s, such a bountiful breakfast was only possible during the spring and summer when such goodies like tomatoes and radishes were available in the garden or at the farmer’s market, and when you could get eggs from your own hens or those of your neighbor (if you lived in the countryside, of course).

Even if not all of the foods were always accessible, one item was vital: tea. Tea, not coffee, was our beverage of choice throughout the day, but especially in the morning. Breakfast simply wasn’t the same without a hot cup of black tea with lemon.

I remember how amused we were the first time we saw commercials for cereal: the American breakfast looked completely different. Cereal was not as popular in Poland as it is today (although eating cornflakes with warm milk was fairly common), and people were definitely not eating bacon and washing it down with orange juice. And don’t even get me started on hash browns….Polish people love potatoes, but not for breakfast!

So, to recap, what are some of the most commonly eaten items for breakfast in Poland?

• Open faced sandwiches: Rye bread (or fresh rolls), butter, and some combination of tomato, ham/kielbasa, and yellow cheese, maybe cucumbers
• Scrambled eggs, usually with green onion sprinkled in
• Farmer’s cheese with sour cream, with radishes and onions (green or white)
• If not scrambled, then boiled eggs, eaten soft with a runny yolk or hard on the above mentioned open faced sandwich
• Parówki, aka wieners, with ketchup and mustard (absolutely not the American kind)
• Pickled herring with sour cream and onions (or in tomato sauce)

I will admit the last one on the list is not my favorite, but plenty of people love it!

Once all of the items were on the table (and the tea was poured), we’d sit down and enjoy not only the food but each other’s company. We’d talk about the upcoming day, things that happened throughout the week, and so on.

I know this isn’t unique to Polish culture, but it may be becoming rare in today’s rushed society. With my now Polish American family, I hope to continue this weekend tradition of preparing breakfast together (pancakes with a side of herring?) and sitting down to enjoy the food, and each other.

What do you eat for breakfast?