Courtesy of Poland Culinary Vacations

WBJ.pl chats with Małgorzata "Sarna" Rose, the president of Poland Culinary Vacations, a firm specializing in gastronomic tours of Poland.

Roberto Galea: How did the idea for your business come about?

Małgorzata Rose: Culinary trips, which combine hands-on and demonstration-style cooking lessons as the main focus and also include sightseeing, have been organized for years to destinations famous for outstanding cuisine like Italy, France and Spain. Poland is not yet well known around the world for it's outstanding regional cuisine and drink – maybe with the exception of our fine vodka – but offers a plethora of both.

So, I thought, why not create a company that focuses exclusively on regional culinary tourism to Poland? Poland Culinary Vacations offers ... a culinary learning experience – with local village women in their homes and professional city chefs, as well as cultural discovery, which includes sightseeing.

Plus, when you add the legendary hospitality of Poles, you get a perfect combination.

What is your target demographic?

Foodies, sophisticated world travelers, people who want to go slow and see more.

Most are women 35 and older, who like to travel together as girlfriends or mother/daughters, but also many solo travelers and couples.

Most culinary travelers come from North America but this specialty tourism is growing in popularity among foodies and travelers from all over the world, including countries like China and India.

What do your clients want from these trips? Which is more popular, food tours or cooking lessons?

Clients request great food: natural, organically sourced, healthy and varied. Of course [they also want] a great time!

The weekly trips are more popular but some people who are in Poland on business or short stays will do a one-day cooking lesson with a chef.

What percentage of your client base includes people who have some "Polish blood" and are trying to rediscover their roots?

I would say it's 50/50. Adventurous travelers are eager to try new cuisines as they explore the world, even if they've never tried Polish cuisine. Third and fourth generation Polish-Americans, Polish-Canadians etc, come to experience what "their Babcia used to cook" – the association of happy memories with food is strong in those individuals. They want to learn how to make the delicious pierogi their Babcia used to make!

As a native Pole who has moved to the US, what is the general perception, in your experience, of "Polish food" in the US?

Outside of the big Polish-American population centers like Chicago and New York, where people are able to try authentic Polish food in restaurants run by Polish-Americans, Americans know very little about Polish food/cuisine. They may know Polish kielbasa and vodka.

They think that Polish cuisine is based only on cabbage, meat and potatoes and that's far from the truth. We need to do a better job of promoting the variety of foods [which Poland] offers.