Cuisine

When browsing the menus of local restaurants, attention of tourists from other region of Poland is attracted to the strange names. Augustów cuisine is, in fact, a result of mixing and blending of traditions and cultures of people living in this area: Poles, Lithuanians, Jews and Russians. You will find a large selection of cheap and simple dishes made from the available 'gifts of nature'.

The most popular regional dishes

Zeppelins - the most popular regional dish. A zeppelin is a large, oval-shaped dumpling made from grated raw potatoes mixed with cooked mashed potatoes, stuffed with spiced minced meat. They are boiled in the water and topped with bacon and fried onions.

Potato cake - is prepared with grated potatoes, flour and eggs with the addition of bacon and fried onions. The mixture is poured into a baking form and baked in an oven until golden-brown.

Potato sausage - is made from cleaned pig intestines, filled with a stuffing of grated potatoes, lard and chopped onion. It is baked in an oven until golden-brown.

Soczewiaki - semi-circular dumplings of potato dough stuffed with cooked lentils, chick peas or sauerkraut. They are eaten hot, straight after baking. They are often topped with bacon and onions.

Kindziuk - is prepared with diced pieces of seasoned pork. The mixture is stuffed tightly into pork stomach, tied and then hung to dry for a period of about 6 months in a dry, cool place. Kindziuk is cut into thin slices, served with wholemeal bread and is considered a delicacy of local cuisine.

Fish

Due to the abundance of clean lakes and rivers in the region, there are many fish dishes in the local cuisine. Augustów restaurants serve:

• smoked white-fish and eel,

• sow or pike-perch with chanterelle mushrooms,

• tench in cream,

• stuffed pike.

Sweets

Sękacz – a unique baked product, attractive due to its unusual appearance. The cake looks like a cut tree trunk with knots. Sękacz is baked by pouring dough on a spinning, oak roll and baked in layers. The baking takes 2-3 hours.

Mrowisko (Anthill) - a delicacy of stacked, thin, irregularly fried flaky pastry pieces, covered with liquid honey and sprinkled with poppy seeds and raisins. It looks like an anthill.

Augustów Honey – the Augustów Forest offers excellent conditions for the production of high quality honey harvested from flowers, herbs and other forest plants. Beekeepers use traditional production methods and do not use any methods changing its natural composition. Augustów honey was put on the list of traditional products in June 2010.

The Augustów blueberry bun - a soft and fluffy yeast bun filled with fresh blueberries, which gives it an unforgettable taste. The characteristic feature of the Augustów bun is the relatively higher proportion of filling in comparison to the dough. The tradition of making blueberry-filled buns in the area of the Augustów Forest dates back to the 18th century. In October 2016, the Augustów blueberry bun entered the List of Traditional Products.