Vodka & Food

Babka ziemniaczana is considered Podlachia's best-known dish. Grated raw potatoes, egg, and bacon are baked in the oven into a crisp, golden-brown crust. A cold, clear vodka pairs well with it. It cuts through the fat of the bacon cubes without overpowering the potato flavor.

Kartacze are oval dumplings made from raw and cooked potatoes, filled with minced meat. Kiszka ziemniaczana packs the same potato mash into a pork casing and bakes it. Both belong to the same culinary tradition. They're hearty enough that a sip of vodka in between frees up the palate again for the next bite.

From the Tatars comes pierekaczewnik, paper-thin rolled pastry filled with lamb or beef. It appears on the table at celebrations in Kruszyniany. It shows that Podlachia's cuisine isn't a purely Polish inheritance. It's a borderland cuisine drawn from several traditions, just as its vodka is made from several raw materials of the local landscape.

On festive occasions, all three dishes often appear on the table together. A single bottle of vodka stands for the whole group, not for the individual. This way of eating, together and without hurry, suits a landscape where little happens quickly anyway.

Fish from the Narew, especially pike and carp, complements the potato dishes on many holidays throughout the year. Here too, vodka remains a side note, not the centerpiece. It clears the palate between rich bites, and nothing more is asked of it. In the countryside, this remains the custom to this day, from breakfast through to late dinner.