If you wonder what is the Polish national dish, answer could be only one – pierogi. Its one of 12 dishes on Christmas Eve table, and one of the most tasteful and probably the most recognisable Polish dish around globe.
What are pierogi?
Pierogi are boiled, baked or fried half-circular dumplings, traditionaly stuffed with potato, sauerkraut, ground meat, chese or friut. They are often served with melt butter, sour cream, frie bacon crumbles and onion. This dish is known in Poland from 13th cetury. Legend has it that the 13th century Jacek Odrow?? introduced pierogi to the nation when he fed dumplings to the poor in Krakow following the Tatar invasion.
But, of course, they are known not only in Poland.
There are pierogi festivals in Lawrenceville and Whiting where you can eat your fill of dumplings (both traditional and ‘American’ flavours),whereas Pittsburgh has Great Pierogi Race organised by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team.
Pierogi are also quite popular in Canada, where small village Glednon put up a statue of a pieróg on a fork, called the Giant Perogy.
For some people, eating good pierogi is a spiritual experience. For Donna Lee from Ohio, it quite literally was – in 2005, she saw the face of Jesus on a pierogi she was preparing for dinner. Of courese, she didn´t eat it, she placed it on eBay and earned $1,775.
