Zapiekankas, sausage and maczanka – Krakow’s favourite street food

Street food has revolutionised the food industry. It sets trends, but also rapidly responds to what is currently fashionable. Three iconic Krakow’s street food dishes are: zapiekankas, sausages and maczanka.

In communist Krakow it was common to buy boiled Leszczyńska sausage sold together with a bun. In the 1980s Polish version of pizza, a yeast dough pie with tomato sauce, cheese, mushrooms and ham often topped also with onions and peppers was sold on Szewska Street. People ate also zapiekankas - a toasted cheese and mushroom baguette. Its revamped version is still widely popular among tourists and partygoers who visit Plac Nowy in Kazimierz today.

In many different spots throughout the city, especially next to bus terminuses and stations, vendors sold chips salted from glass jars with holes punched through their metal lids. In 1979 at Długa Street a completely new food outlet opened: premises vacated by the Społem cooperative that ran the "Gong" eatery were taken over by Bronisława Kłopotowska who served so-called Swedish pierogi - a warm bun filled with mushrooms or minced meat. The spot is still running a few doors down the road under the name Svensson. People also gorged on kremówki from the cake shop in Cracovia Hotel and - like elsewhere in Poland - on candy floss, rolled wafers filled with whipped cream, waffles and ciepłe lody (Polish for “warm ice-cream”) - a type of sweet mousse served in a wafer cup.

Another must-try place is the iconic blue Nysa van that parks up nightly at Hala Targowa and has been serving grilled pork sausages with a bun and mustard or ketchup for the last 20 years. You can eat your sausage with oranżada (a soft drink) and the clientele includes a mix of partygoers, taxi drivers, ambulance staff and police officers.

In recent years food trucks have become incredibly popular. In a city where rent rates for premises in a good location are astronomical, many fledgling restaurateurs have decided to start their culinary venture from a less financially demanding operation. Food truck parks function in several spots around Kazimierz; there is one close to the tram and bus terminus at Cichy Kącik and some travel around and feed employees of Krakow office buildings. A food truck festival is held regularly next to Galeria Kazimierz with vans coming from all around Poland. A Krakow culinary tradition is still present in trucks serving maczanka - a pulled pork sandwich - such as the Andrus and Luki Food Truck.