10th Annual Pierogi Festival in Krakow!
Pierogi and Poland go together, and after stuffing myself full of both savory and sweet ones, I think it's a connection Polish people can be proud of. No matter how many I ate, I just didn't get tired of them!
Krakow hosts an annual Pierogi Festival, coinciding with the Day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, when it is traditional to eat pierogi - a tradition continued in several communities in the United States.
The first day I went (yes, I went both days that my stay in Krakow overlapped with the festival!), I was so hungry because I hadn't eaten since I left Warsaw in the morning. I went to a stall with one of the longest lines, and ordered one of each of the savory flavors. Notice their logo is a pierog with eyelashes, red cheeks, and a crown!
Unlike empanadas in Argentina, there isn't a coding system with the way the dough is formed to tell you what's on the inside. And they do look a lot like Chinese dumplings, or jiaozi. This is no accident - their lineage is traced to China, as Marco Polo brought dumplings from China to Italy and they finally reached Poland in the 13th century. The standouts for me were the meat pierogi and one with buckwheat inside. There was also one with mashed peas in it, which gave an interesting texture.
Then, I went to another stall with an even longer line and got one each of their offerings, both savory and sweet.
These were a LOT larger, though the same price at 1.5 PLN each, and were colored differently according to their filling. These were: spinach in the green one, potato, salmon and shrimp in the orange one, sauerkraut in the yellow one, two meat ones, and then one with strawberries (the bright red one), and one with blueberries.
Though the second store had bigger ones, I preferred the taste and texture of the first store. The fillings had a nicer flavor and mouthfeel, and the skin was thinner and had more bite to it. Unfortunately the second day was the last day of the festival and they were running out, but I still got to sample four of the savory flavors again - here they are split open so you can see the interior. The buckwheat one is the one on top, then there are two smoked meat ones, and then the sauerkraut one on the right.
Then there were the sweet ones (clockwise from top right): cheese, blueberry, apricot, cherry, and my favorite, the poppy seed one.
