Poland has always been a problem for my waistline, as I have a real weakness for dishes like pierogi, żurek and a well made bigos. The ingredients for these and many other dishes can now be found in most British supermarkets thanks to the thriving Polish community in the UK.
But now British food and drink is starting to come to Poland. Some British products are already popular here, not least Scotch Whisky. Last week, I had the privilege of tasting a 1953 Glenfarclas malt, pure nectar! This week, I attended a British food and drink fair at the Embassy. There was a wide range of great products on offer, many of which I was lucky enough to taste. Among my personal favourites were some superb cheddar cheeses, a sharp and tangy lemon curd, a range of hot sauces perfect for a chilli addict like myself, ciders flavoured with ginger and whisky, luxury chocolates, crumpets and some fantastic snacks, some with more calories than others! All of this I washed down with a fine English ale. I would have loved to cook the British lamb and beef on display for Sunday lunch. Poland may be a king of pork but British beef and lamb takes a lot of beating.
We will work with the enthusiastic suppliers who exhibited at the fair to help them get their high quality and innovative products onto Polish shelves. Any good supermarket here has a range of French cheeses but often no cheddar at all. There is no reason why increasingly sophisticated Polish consumers should not be able to enjoy delicious British specialities. Our UK Trade and Investment team will work hard to help make this happen and increase British exports in this key sector.
My personal challenge to our team is to bring British sausages to Poland. If the UK can export Nan bread to India, then why not sausages to the land of the kiełbasa!