Veganism in Poland

Poland will surprise you when it comes to finding vegan food. As opposed to the rest of Eastern Europe where the vegan culture is still marginal. In Poland you will be amazed by the sheer quantity of vegan-friendly and fully vegan restaurants. In Warsaw, no neighborhood is left behind, and delicious (and relatively low cost) vegan options are available almost everywhere. It rivals some of the most vegan-friendly cities in America or Canada in terms of availability and quality. Poland indeed seems to be spearheading the vegan movement in Europe.

English is widely spoken so no issues here about being understood. Another surprise is that people will usually know what vegan means. Even in some of the smaller cities in the countryside. They will almost always know the difference between vegetarian and vegan unless they are a part of an older generation, in which case you will need to explain. But even there you shouldn’t get any flak and people will not look at you weirdly for your diet.

Vegan Food In Poland

Polish cuisine is based on meat and animal products, so it’s relatively hard to find vegan variants of typical Polish food in mainstream restaurants. Concentrate there on the salads, the pickles, the sauerkraut, steamed potatoes and the fruit soups and compotes. see LOCAL FOOD page.

Even small grocery stores tend to carry plant-based milks, tofu and a wide variety of pickles and other probiotic foods. In winter, vegetable options are a bit limited in markets but supermarkets fill in the gaps with imports (see LOCAL BRANDS page). Vegans say they are very happy in Poland and therefore there is a good chance you will be too.