8 Kolobrzeska, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Cuisine is an inseparable part of a nation’s culture. It is also an inextricable element of discovering a foreign country. This is why, we at ITS DMC Poland strongly believe that designing and creating an outstanding trip plan has to include native and regional food tasting elements. It can happen during ordinary meals that are ordered for groups in between sightseeing and other fun activities but it can also take the more refined form of special food tasting, joined by some educational elements connected with a given food production and discovering various tastes offered by a given product. This is why we would like you to consider including the below mentioned elements in your Polish adventure.
Dumplings are one of the most popular Polish traditional dishes. You can taste them in almost all restaurants. As they are so delicious, why don’t you learn how to make them? Dumplings are known since the 13th century, there are numerous recipes for the dough and feelings that make this dish as versatile as Italian pasta. The dumplings workshop is also connected with various dumplings tasting events where the best well known dumplings just must appear: with meat, cabbage, potato and cottage cheese filling. The participants can observe and perform the whole process of dumpling making from rolling the dough, through stuffing it and folding them with various techniques. After the workshop it is also possible to organize meal with other Polish specialities tasting. Dumpling workshops are an amazing way to immerse yourself in Polish culture.
ITS DMC Poland believes that the best place to discover complexity of Polish cheese is Podhale mountainous region of the country. We invite all the visitors to Oscypek Museum that is located in Biały Dunajec, 10 km from Zakopane, winter capital of Poland. Oscypek is a smoked cheese made of salted sheep milk exclusively in the Tatra Mountains region of Poland. Oscypek is made by an expert named "baca", a term also denoting a sheep shepherd in the mountains. The museum is a great offer for people who want to take part in active demonstrations of this Podhale specialty. During the presentation, tourists learn, among other things: that real oscypek contains no more than 40% cow's milk and at least 60% sheep's milk, it is made only during ‘redyk’, i.e., from the beginning of May to October, tourists also learn about traditional shepherd's equipment, hear what ‘pucenie’, ‘oscypiorki’ and many others are. Visitors observe all stages of the production of oscypek according to the traditional recipe. Most importantly make their own cheese! It is up to you what shape you choose. It is an amazing experience which should also be accompanied by a meal in one of excellent Zakopane restaurants with oscypek cheese in many various forms.
There are many places where chocolate in the main role creates a magical spectacle for tourists. One of our favourite places of this type is Cracow’s Chocolate Manufacture (Polish: Krakowska Manufaktura Czekolady). It invites visitors to workshops during which they see the real chocolate show. Each participant gets a chocolatier outfit and special ingredients. The basic chocolate workshops include making pralines, the history of the creation of chocolate, drawing with melted chocolate, writing on the chocolate bar, decorating finished pralines with sprinkles and chocolate makeup. Each participant receives self – made sweets and unforgettable sweet memories. There are also workshops where participants also observe the decoration of colouring biscuits, chocolate colouring pages, a demonstration of tempering chocolate on marble, as well as modelling figures from chocolate plasticine.
Sweets are eternal. No matter what we hear about health threats sugar poses for us, everyone likes to have something sweet from time to time. We want to invite you to learn all secrets of candy making and produce your own lollipop in Kraków' candy manufacture Ciuciu. It is probably the smallest factory of sweets in the world. Ciuciu sweets are hand made on the basis of the technology taken from small manufactures of the 17th and 18th century. It is the second factory in Poland of this type, just after Gdańsk manufacture. Ciuciu invites all children and adults to 38 Grodzka Street in Cracow to the magical land of sweets. During shows visitors can observe from the very beginning till the very end how candies and lollipops are produced. Some of our clients claim that it is a pure magic from entering the workshop and the caramel aroma spreading everywhere is irreplaceable part of the experience. At the end of the show tourists taste still warm sweets, they are also able to produce their own treat.
Honey making and bee keeping especially due to ecology issues has become a very public topic. This is why a visit in one of Poland’s apiaries is a great opportunity to learn about the bees importance and taste exquisite honey products. One of our favourite beekeeping workshops take place in "Na Bąbaczówce" apiary located in the picturesque commune of Osiek close to Cracow. During the visit, an experienced beekeeper honoured by the Minister of the Environment tells, among others, about how honey is made, about the life of bees, their hard work and invaluable role in nature, and about beekeeping traditions. During the workshops, participants can see the beekeeping equipment, learn how the hive is built, about the difference between a queen bee and a drone and workers, and what their functions are in the bee colony, as well as learn about many valuable curiosities. Tourists have the opportunity to get to know, taste and purchase various types and varieties of honey and other bee products. The host of the apiary also explains honey healing properties and advises particular honey types. After tasting sweet delicacies, visitors can take a commemorative photo and rest in the shade of the chapel of St. Ambrose - the patron saint of beekeepers. The workshops are organized as part of the Carp Valley Eco - Museum. Eco museum is a network of outdoor attractions presenting "living" natural, historical and cultural heritage.
All the above mentioned attractions make every tourist tour really memorable, original and tasty. All of them have educational values apart from the obvious gourmet ones. The events of this type can organized in various places all around Poland, here you can see just some of our favourites. If any of them caught your attention feel welcome to contact professional ITS Poland group advisors, they will be happy to help you with planning and organizing your unforgettable Polish adventure.
Author: Agnieszka Szwedzińska
Date: 1.10.2021
