Polish cuisine was born out of diversity.
There is no homogeneity of flavour between North and South or East and West but rather, a wealth of flavours that is simply staggering. Culinary diversity is one of Poland’s treasures. Discover the best foodie cities across the country and start planning your next delicious trip today!
Lodz – all shapes and tastes of the city
Lodz used to be the Polish capital of textile and film. Today, it is a hub of extraordinary tastes of multicultural cuisine.
Lodz, sometimes called the „Polish Manchester”, experienced significant prosperity in the latter part of the 19th century as a city known for its textile industry, full of smoking chimneys, beautiful tenements and fabulous palaces of factory owners. It has always been a modern, forward-looking, open to innovations, city. This cultural pot contained not only Poles, Jews and Germans, but also Russians, Czechs and French. The I World War slowed down the dynamic development of the city, with the II World War devastating its multicultural design, although preserving its antique architecture.
The capital of Polish film
Lodz was reborn – this time as the capital of the Polish film industry. For tens of years a national film studio, Wytwornia Filmow Fabularnych w Lodzi, operated here, and the Lodz Film School – operating to this day – educated such prominent figures as Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski and Krzysztof Kieslowski. In the last couple of years, the city went through drastic changes – its antique and post-industrial character is seamlessly connected with modern offices, as well as with the aesthetics of the places, contributed to by local and neighbourhood communities, its residents spend time in. The world also noticed the fact that the Lonely Planet ranked Lodz second in the Best in Travel ranking for 2019.
Multicultural cuisine
The cuisine of Lodz has always been connected with the culinary customs of the multi-ethnic working class, especially Polish and Jewish. Today, old walls of former plants, such as the Franciszek Ramisch’s factory or Jozef John’s Iron Foundry, are visited by the people interested in the delicious local and worldwide food, or in buying fresh vegetables at the ecological market. The famous urban promenade, Piotrkowska street, contains many locations specializing in vegetarian cuisine, with organic coffee consumed in the environment of soothing greenery being an extraordinary offering of some of the hotel cafes in the northern part of the city.
Knödel with strawberries and carp served sweet
The gastronomy of Lodz was appreciated in the prestigious Gault&Millau guide. As befits a multicultural city, here you can try tastes from all around the world, as well as fabulous local dishes, including Polish cuisine (Lodz’s Knödel with strawberries and spring greens) and Jewish (such as carp served sweet, famous gefilte fish). A fantastic opportunity to learn the tastes of Lodz constitute the multiple culinary festivals taking place during spring-summer.
Lodz Wladyslaw Reymont Airport can be accessed with direct flights from London-Stansted (STN), East Midlands (EMA) and Dublin (BUB).
