What do you think?
Rate this book
Polska: New Polish Cooking
This is a fresh new take on Polish cooking from young food writer Zuza Zak. The food of Poland has long been overlooked, but the time is right for a reinvention, with an estimated 10 million people of Polish descent living in the US. Zuza presents her contemporary take on Polish cuisine, with lavishly photographed recipes for snacks, party foods, soups, preserves, breads, fish, meat and poultry, salads, and desserts. She places Polish food within the context of the country's history and geography, and tracks how it has developed and adapted to Poland's ever-changing political and economic situation. Polska is a breath of fresh air.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published July 14, 2016
16 people are currently reading
236 people want to read
About the author
Zuza Zak
5 books12 followersI call myself a Storyteller-Cook, my aim is to inspire the world to cook and eat more food from Eastern Europe. I am interested in the culture and history of food, therefore I use storytelling as a medium for delving into another cuisine and through it, into another culture.
I have written three cookbooks on Eastern European cuisine – Polska, Amber & Rye and Pierogi. I am currently working on a food focused PhD and my fourth book, which will be something a little different…
I learnt the art of cooking from an early age, from my beloved Babcias (grandmas) – Ziuta and Halinka. All of my early childhood memories are intertwined with food, so now I am now passing on the culinary love to my two daughters.
My own story began in a land and time very removed and different from the one I inhabit today. I was born in Communist Poland in 1979 and spent the first 8 years of my life in an oppressive regime that I remember with a strange mixture of fear and nostalgia. There was often nothing to be found in the shops. Sometimes people would queue for 8 hours or more to buy one random ingredient that happened to be available that day, yet somehow the Polish people always found a way to eat and to enjoy themselves. Families, friends and communities would work together to find, grow, forage and obtain everything that was needed to create amazing feasts.
Since arriving in the UK, aged 8, I have found that people here know very little about my country, it’s food and culture. Even now that there are so many Poles living here, the cuisine is relatively unknown or completely misunderstood. When I started writing “Polska” I had a full-time job and would get up at 6.30am to do 45min of writing before work. In this way, bit-by-bit, the book wrote itself. All the interest that my book has generated has been heart-warming. I hope that my story is an inspiration to others to follow their passions.
I have written three cookbooks on Eastern European cuisine – Polska, Amber & Rye and Pierogi. I am currently working on a food focused PhD and my fourth book, which will be something a little different…
I learnt the art of cooking from an early age, from my beloved Babcias (grandmas) – Ziuta and Halinka. All of my early childhood memories are intertwined with food, so now I am now passing on the culinary love to my two daughters.
My own story began in a land and time very removed and different from the one I inhabit today. I was born in Communist Poland in 1979 and spent the first 8 years of my life in an oppressive regime that I remember with a strange mixture of fear and nostalgia. There was often nothing to be found in the shops. Sometimes people would queue for 8 hours or more to buy one random ingredient that happened to be available that day, yet somehow the Polish people always found a way to eat and to enjoy themselves. Families, friends and communities would work together to find, grow, forage and obtain everything that was needed to create amazing feasts.
Since arriving in the UK, aged 8, I have found that people here know very little about my country, it’s food and culture. Even now that there are so many Poles living here, the cuisine is relatively unknown or completely misunderstood. When I started writing “Polska” I had a full-time job and would get up at 6.30am to do 45min of writing before work. In this way, bit-by-bit, the book wrote itself. All the interest that my book has generated has been heart-warming. I hope that my story is an inspiration to others to follow their passions.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 18, 2016
This book was a huge disappointment. I am Polish and a friend gave me this book as a gift.
Guys, do not buy this book if you want to learn about Polish cooking (or to showcase the delicious Polish cuisine to your non-Polish friends). The photos are beyond disgusting - I have never seen such unappetising pictures in a cook book. The text is interesting and informative, but full of spelling errors, with many names misspelt. There are also factual errors, for example: "Tartra Mountains that Poland shares with Slovenia" - it is TATRA mountains, and SLOVAKIA, not Slovenia!!
Even the severe shape font used for titles is ugly and mismatched with the main text font.
It appears that the author was trying to emulate the two beautiful, award-winning books by Beata Zatorska and Simon Target: "Rose Petal Jam"and "Sugared Orange". Buy one of those (or both) instead. The photos will delight you, the recipes are traditional and excellent, and the accompanying stories are very well written.
Guys, do not buy this book if you want to learn about Polish cooking (or to showcase the delicious Polish cuisine to your non-Polish friends). The photos are beyond disgusting - I have never seen such unappetising pictures in a cook book. The text is interesting and informative, but full of spelling errors, with many names misspelt. There are also factual errors, for example: "Tartra Mountains that Poland shares with Slovenia" - it is TATRA mountains, and SLOVAKIA, not Slovenia!!
Even the severe shape font used for titles is ugly and mismatched with the main text font.
It appears that the author was trying to emulate the two beautiful, award-winning books by Beata Zatorska and Simon Target: "Rose Petal Jam"and "Sugared Orange". Buy one of those (or both) instead. The photos will delight you, the recipes are traditional and excellent, and the accompanying stories are very well written.
October 29, 2016
I will officially thoroughly read this in 2017; I flipped through it, and it looks pretty decent. I'm putting the rating up because I really want this to at least be nominated in 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards for "Food & Cookbooks"; so anyone who does read cookbooks, please consider checking this one out? xD There's another one I did the same treatment, but if that one doesn't suit your taste, there's this one!
My hopeful candidates for 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards "Food & Cookbooks" category:
My hopeful candidates for 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards "Food & Cookbooks" category:
(In book title's alphabetical order)
October 6, 2020
I do not agree with the opinion of the previous reviewer. I am also Polish. I am 27 years old, so I have been cooking for several years, but I am very interested in Polish cuisine.
Polish cuisine is huge!
Polish cuisine is multi-regional! Okay, we have few national classic (np. Schabowy, mizeria, kotlety mielone), but we have also specify the cuisine of eastern, western, northern, central and southern Polish.
This book may have lack the national classics (ground, pork chops, broth), but we have there dishes from eastern and central cuisines. This is the subject of this book.
The photos are beautiful! Modern, in beautiful colors, extremely appetizing.
You will find here a lot of cakes (e.g. karpatka, poppy seed cake, pascha, faworki), a lot of meats (duck, rabbit, liver zrazy), pates, a lot of soups (barley soup, borscht, sorrel soup, cherry and mushroom soup), salads (vegetable) , starters, breakfasts and drinks.
I recommend.
Polish cuisine is huge!
Polish cuisine is multi-regional! Okay, we have few national classic (np. Schabowy, mizeria, kotlety mielone), but we have also specify the cuisine of eastern, western, northern, central and southern Polish.
This book may have lack the national classics (ground, pork chops, broth), but we have there dishes from eastern and central cuisines. This is the subject of this book.
The photos are beautiful! Modern, in beautiful colors, extremely appetizing.
You will find here a lot of cakes (e.g. karpatka, poppy seed cake, pascha, faworki), a lot of meats (duck, rabbit, liver zrazy), pates, a lot of soups (barley soup, borscht, sorrel soup, cherry and mushroom soup), salads (vegetable) , starters, breakfasts and drinks.
I recommend.
January 27, 2022
First, I don't know a lot about Polish cooking, and haven't eaten a lot of Polish food. In general it's hard for me to rate cookbooks. Ultimately my rating is based on 'will I go back to this over and over again?' and probably not. This was a try it once deal.
This book was really nice in the sense of how unique many of the recipes seemed- I really enjoyed that part. Easy to read, clear instructions etc. Not to complicated. I also appreciated the little personal touches and stories and photos. For me, because I had no reference for what some of these dishes would be like, it was hard to get pulled into wanting to cook as many of them. At the end of the day the more familiar recipes were what I was drawn to actually try: a potato pie and some different types of dumplings. Those recipes were very simple though and more like 'Oh that's a good idea' rather than a- wow, this is unusual. What did look more unusual that I plan to make was the semolina layered cake. Looking forward to that.
This book was really nice in the sense of how unique many of the recipes seemed- I really enjoyed that part. Easy to read, clear instructions etc. Not to complicated. I also appreciated the little personal touches and stories and photos. For me, because I had no reference for what some of these dishes would be like, it was hard to get pulled into wanting to cook as many of them. At the end of the day the more familiar recipes were what I was drawn to actually try: a potato pie and some different types of dumplings. Those recipes were very simple though and more like 'Oh that's a good idea' rather than a- wow, this is unusual. What did look more unusual that I plan to make was the semolina layered cake. Looking forward to that.
October 10, 2021
Look, I am Polish and what is in the book aren't really representative of Polish dishes at all.
Apart from Bigos, there are things like Ukrainian Borscht, which isn't the Polish variant of Borscht. Very, very strange selection.
Apart from Bigos, there are things like Ukrainian Borscht, which isn't the Polish variant of Borscht. Very, very strange selection.
July 12, 2023
What a debut by Zuza Zak. I found her first via her gorgeous and informative Baltic cookbook “Amber & Rye” and then the delightful “Pierogi” cookbook which brought back so many memories of traveling Poland.
This first book by Zak showcases the delicious variety of Polish cuisine in an accessible way. Only a scant few recipes require obscure ingredients. So many different options from weeknights to celebrations. My in-laws are Polish and many of the dishes are familiar or refined in this book. I cannot wait to explore the whole book cover-to-cover with my family.
It rare to hold a cookbook that inspires the reader. This one does. The layout is great. Pictures are gorgeous. And I love that she includes the time for each recipe. Too many cookbooks neglect to have that extremely helpful note.
Zuza Zak grows as a writer with each subsequent book, but this one is a heck of an starting point.
This first book by Zak showcases the delicious variety of Polish cuisine in an accessible way. Only a scant few recipes require obscure ingredients. So many different options from weeknights to celebrations. My in-laws are Polish and many of the dishes are familiar or refined in this book. I cannot wait to explore the whole book cover-to-cover with my family.
It rare to hold a cookbook that inspires the reader. This one does. The layout is great. Pictures are gorgeous. And I love that she includes the time for each recipe. Too many cookbooks neglect to have that extremely helpful note.
Zuza Zak grows as a writer with each subsequent book, but this one is a heck of an starting point.
August 16, 2021
I liked the book. A lot of good recipes, but because of my allergies and dietary restrictions there were a lot of meals in this book that weren't for me. I did mark almost 20 recipes to try out one day though. The photographs are beautiful, but I wish there was a picture for each recipe so I know how it looks like.
May 18, 2025
Gifted to me by a Polish friend, it was refreshing to find a Polish cookbook with different recipes than the standard fare and that are simple to make. I also love the emphasis on foraged ingredients!
June 20, 2017
Read our review at https://bookthreat.com/2017/06/09/1611/
July 8, 2022
Easy to follow recipes, lots of new ingredients needed to make many of the dishes but that's not a criticism. Fascinating history of Polish food, written well and engaging.
November 20, 2023
I bought this book I Krakow as a souvenir. I love it and I am cooking my way through it.
October 2, 2025
Nice cooking book, some of recipes are very near to ones used in my family home, some I never saw/taste.
September 9, 2016
This has been a good year for cookbooks and me! This one is packaged beautifully, with lovely cover design and interior photography and design. There is a short history of Poland, information on ingredients, and each recipe has a short blurb with background information. Everything looks tasty and I can't wait to get cooking and baking!
July 15, 2016
Great book. Great cover and photos. Author provided a historical background to Polish cousine, which I found very interesting.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews