Poland's Peasant Heritage

Although poverty and famines were chronic in Poland, they were especially brutal in the 2nd half of the 19th century in the rural south. Underinvestment by the Austrian occupier, lack of education, and the use of primitive agricultural techniques, combined with overpopulation to create a crisis in malnutrition. As a result, there was little immunity…

“For breakfast , there were always barszcz, beet soup with rye bread. If a farmer had enough potatoes, then they were the second course, fried or boiled with salt. If there was not much bread, potatoes replaced bread with soup. The midday meal usually consisted of two dishes of which the first was always cabbage…