Poland Importing Potatoes from Italy?

[ejmarkow]

After I finished stuccoing part of my barn yesterday with a worker, I took a
walk to the village of Brzozowa to do some food shopping. I noticed a friend
of mine there was sitting in the store grasping a bag of small, 'young'
potatoes in his hands, and asked him where he got them from? He told me he
had purchased them in that store. I found the potatoes and looked carefully
at the selling information listed on the box, and they were imported from
Italy. Italy? It was surprising to say the least, that Poland is importing
potatoes from Italy when its own production ranks as one of the highest in
Europe. In addition, Polish potatoes are simply delicious. If food consists
of one of Poland's most successful exports to EU countries, then why are
Poles importing potatoes from a country not even reputable for tasty spuds?
This is almost synonomous with Poland exporting wine to Italy.

[ja_karola]

It must have been a "transaction of reciprocity" (transakcja wiazana). Kind of
like during communism when nobody cared about Trybuna Ludu or Zolnierz Wolnosci
(both commi propaganda - or pinko as marimax would have called it); you could
buy a popular magazine (in the now infamous Kiosk Ruchu) only if you bought the
other one as well.

I wonder what was the main import. I suspect Lancias for the newly elected K
bros...? Godfather's services to clean up the Russian mob in PL? Armani suits
for the tasteless Samoobrona? Hmmmm....

[ejmarkow]

ja_karola napisała:

> It must have been a "transaction of reciprocity" (transakcja wiazana).

You read my mind, I had been thinking exactly the same thing. But imagine, a
large segment of typical Polish village demographics consist of impoverished
farmers desperately attempting to sell their mostly healthy, tasty organic
products to make ends meet, meanwhile, Polish authorities are playing a sort of
political ping pong export game with other EU countries for the sake
of 'reciprocity', thereby crushing farmers chances to secure even a modest
income with what little they have. It was difficult for me to see this
happening at such a micro-economic level (in a local village store) where the
farmers are yearning to export or sell their surplus products. If this was a
scene in a larger city in Poland, it's a little more acceptable where most of
the locals aren't farmers. Items like exotic fruits (kiwi, pineappales, etc)
are more realistic for import. But potatoes, from Italy? You can be sure they
were GMO products as well.

> I wonder what was the main import. I suspect Lancias for the newly elected K
> bros...? Godfather's services to clean up the Russian mob in PL? Armani
> suits for the tasteless Samoobrona? Hmmmm....

Actually, the Armani suits are more befitting for some former communists still
clinging to power somewhere in the cobwebs of Poland's political sphere.

[sobieski010]

For me this is normal trade. Why can you buy Polish mushrooms in UK supermarkets,
Polish tomatoes in Holland? Why Spanish strawberries in Polish stores?
I work for a logistic group specialised in fresh produce and the way fresh
produce moves around the EU is normal trade.
On this principle the EU is built.
Out of experience I can say that a lot of Polish producers have problems with
keeping quality consistent on a high export level. I was near Lublin on Friday
to visit two big tomato growers, who have excellent produce but somehow do not
succeed in keeping the same quality the season through.

[ejmarkow]

sobieski010 napisał:

> For me this is normal trade. Why can you buy Polish mushrooms in UK
> supermarkets, Polish tomatoes in Holland? Why Spanish strawberries in Polish
> stores?

It's considered normal trade when the products being exported by a given
country have a favorable reputation for those goods in question. Poland's
Mushrooms, Tomatoes, and most of its food products have one of the highest
satisfaction rates in the EU. One reason being, Poland's food products are
mostly organic and grown the natural way, as opposed to the industrialized
methods of farming utilized by the West. As far as Spanish strawberries are
concerned, I'm not familiar with the quality of them. If they are indeed as
good as Polish strawberries, then they deserve to be imported to Poland. But
Italian potatoes? Here are some examples individual products that are usually
associated favorably with particuar countries: Poland (food products), Germany
(automobiles), Portugal (wine), Italy (shoes and clothing), Swiss (chocolates),
etc.

> On this principle the EU is built.

Of course, agreed. In the long run, the economic laws of supply and demand will
ultimately dictate which products should be exported and imported by all
countries.

[sobieski010]

As concerns tomatoes - Polish producers use different quality standards for the
domestic market than for export. Domestic quality standards are lower, meaning
damaged tomatoes, not color-consistent, to ripe... Because they know they get
away with that and still get 4,20 PLN per kilo for them.
Which does not mean these growers are not able to produce high-quality
vegetables. But for the domestic market the incentive isn't there.
If Dutch retail chains buy Polish tomatoes it is because they are cheaper than
Dutch ones. That is the hard reality.
And another sad reality is that Polish tomato growers in the Lublin area (an
area I think with high umemployment) use Ukrainian workers who they probably pay
next to nothing. As to keep the price down.
As for Spanish strawberries (the kind you buy in winter and early spring) well..
you taste only water.
I agree local strawberries are much better - if they are grown in soil and not
on substrate. But Belgian, Dutch, UK... straweberries taste equally good if
grown on soil.

[sobieski010]

You forgot Belgium (Chocolates and beer)

[ejmarkow]

sobieski010 napisał:

> You forgot Belgium (Chocolates and beer)

Yes, indeed! And Britain for their fine brew, technology, and financial
services as well, Ireland for Shetland wool sweaters and brew, Germany and
Czech for brew. Even Poland is upticking slowly in the beer category. Dude, I'm
in the mood for a Tyskie!

[hardenfelt]

I like new potatoes so I buy what’s available. Honestly – old Polish potatoes
is not a big attraction.

[ejmarkow]

hardenfelt napisał:

> I like new potatoes so I buy what’s available. Honestly – old Polish potatoes
> is not a big attraction.

Your reply is confusing and doesn't make sense. Can you please clarify?
Why 'old'? Many farmers are now harvesting tasty young potatoes for sale, so
why bother with imports from other countries?

[hardenfelt]

This is just the time where we are changing from import to local products, but
I still haven’t seen new Polish potatoes in Warsaw. I admit, I haven’t been
looking specially – just been buying what’s available. But I think new Polish
potatoes started around a week ago and we still don’t have a lot of them.

[ejmarkow]

Someone at the local store in Brzozowa must have access to this forum! After
this posting, they started selling delicious Polish spuds instead of the
Italian imports. I bought 2 kilos yesterday and made a fabulous salad with some
cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, sour cream, salt and pepper. By the way, 1 kilo of
Polish potatoes (the small young ones) costs 3 zlotych here, and 1 kilo of the
Italian spuds were going to 2.80 zlotych. What are the prices in Warsaw and
other large cities? Cheaper or more expensive?

Cheers,

Eugene
Siemiechów, Poland
www.geocities.com/ejmarkow/siemiechow

[sobieski010]

The last time I bought new potatoes at Bomi, they costed around 3 PLN per kilo.
That was three weeks ago and they came from Egypt...
Anyway Eugene, this salad looks great. Could you publish the recipy here.
Am very interested. You think red wine goes together with it ?

New Potatoes And What To Do With Them

[ianek70]

ejmarkow napisał:

> Someone at the local store in Brzozowa must have access to this forum! After
> this posting, they started selling delicious Polish spuds instead of the
> Italian imports. I bought 2 kilos yesterday and made a fabulous salad with
some
>
> cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, sour cream, salt and pepper. By the way, 1 kilo
of
>
> Polish potatoes (the small young ones) costs 3 zlotych here, and 1 kilo of
the
> Italian spuds were going to 2.80 zlotych. What are the prices in Warsaw and
> other large cities? Cheaper or more expensive?

At the moment, a kilo of Polish new potatoes costs 2.49 in Katowice.
I've been buying them by the ton for the past couple of weeks because they're
great.
I'll try the salad

Recipe no. 2,:
Boil about a kilo of small new potatoes, then cut them in half lengthwise.
Make a large amount of garlic butter, the same as for garlic bread, i.e. lots
of butter, lots of garlic, plus coriander, black pepper, oregano and thyme
according to taste and a bit of salt,
Place the potatoes jacket-side-up in a frying pan on medium heat, after a few
seconds throw the garlic butter on top, once it's all melted stir it for a
couple of minutes until the whole house smells of garlic.
Simple, but effective.

[ja_karola]

Great recipe ianek! I'm drooling at the thought.... we have nothing but old
Prince Edward Island genetically-modified, pesticide-infested potatoes. Can you
send any over? Imports include the same kind but from the US and more
expensive. At least I've decreased my intake of carbs, but I suspect a lack of
potassium in my diet.