A Vegetarian in Krakow

On my first trip to Krakow, which was only 5 nights, I ate a lot of pierogies, cheese, and the occasional potato pancake. All good, but very, very heavy.

This trip, (14 days of restaurant meals) I was prepared. Although Poland has the reputation as being a meat and potatoes place, Krakow is a university town, and university students everywhere are renowned for their liberal views, which often means many vegetarians. No problem, I thought.

So, armed with my Best of Krakow guidebook, published by the very vegetarian friendly Lonely Planet, I started scouting out the vegetarian options. My second night here, I found Bar Vega, which was promisingly sub-titled Wegatarianski.

It looked promising. All vegetarian and vegan dishes. I ordered a vegetable with tomato sauce casserole (that was the English translation), which although somewhat tasty, was made with frozen peas, corns and carrots.

Have I already complained about the lack of green salad? Bar Vega had nine kinds of salad (7 of which I am sure were made with cabbage - I am not a fan of cabbage), but not a speck of lettuce to be seen!

Still, I was hopeful. After all, it was a vegetarian restaurant in the land of meat and potatoes, and it wasn't the only one listed in the book.

Lunch however, was a different story. My office in Krakow is in an industrial area. The building I am in has a small cafeteria-style restaraunt. Pierogies and potato pancakes are the only vegetarian options. So after two days, my team, who have tried very hard to find me something to eat, took me to another small restaurant. Again, pierogies were the main vegetarian option, but not able to stomach another pierogie meal, I tried the only other vegetarian dish - rice with apples. When it arrived it resembled a huge square of cake, but was made of rice. On top was some sort of sweet cream. The apple filling tasted like apple pie. I guess it tasted okay, but it was very, very odd. I ended up eating about a quarter of it, and getting someone to order me a side dish of mashed potatoes.

The next day I asked my team if there was somewhere I could get a sandwich. Unfortunately for me, sandwiches aren't a popular lunch option. However, this started them thinking. Apparently, you can get sandwiches early in the morning at the cafeteria. And that reminded them that you can also purchase salads from the "salad lady" every morning at 10:30 am.

So the next day, we all put an entry in our calendars for 10:25, and then set off in search of the salad lady. This took us to the fourth floor elevator lobby, where several other people were already waiting. At exactly 10:30 am, the elevator opened, and a large man (salad man?) appeared carrying a huge cooler bag. He dropped the bag on the floor, and everyone waiting crouched down on the floor and started going through the bag. When they found the salad they wanted, they paid him 5 zl and he gave them a large roll and plastic cutlery.

Of course, this being Poland, all of the salads had meat in them.

Krakow - Take two

It took several months from that initial meeting with my director to actually get me to Krakow. I finally came for my first visit in early November 2006.

My new manager in Poland told me the purpose of that November trip was for me to decide whether I liked Krakow, and whether I would like to come here to live for two years. What he doesn't know, is that I'd made up my mind the minute the possibility of the job was first mentioned.

On my first trip in November, I sprained my ankle badly in my first two hours of walking around the lovely old town, and it both snowed and rained heavily in a 24 hours period. None of that mattered. I was hooked on Krakow before the taxi even left the airport.

I'm back now for my second visit. I've been here for just over a week, and I already feel at home. I could tell you I am in love with Krakow (I am), and how great everyone at work is (they are), but that won't make for very interesting reading. Instead, in the coming posts, I'll tell you about some of the challenges I have faced (Poland may not be the best country for a vegetarian to live in, especially in the winter), and the quirks (or maybe just differences) of Krakovian life.

The Adventure

Six months ago, my director asked me what I wanted to do in the next step of my career. Not really knowing what was available to me, I asked him what my options were. After we discussed several possibilities in the city in which I live (Toronto), I took a deep breath, and asked him if there were any opportunities for me in Europe.

Without pausing, he looked at me and said, "I think there's a job for you in Krakow."

And that's how it all began . . .