The Influence of Mediterranean Culture on Polish Cuisine in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era

The article explores the Mediterranean influences on Polish cuisine in the centuries that followed the adoption of Christianity at the end of the 10th cen­tury. This memorable act brought Poland into the circle of Western culture anchored in the Greco-Roman tradition, which also heavily impacted the eve­ryday life of representatives of all strata of Polish society. The author draws attention to the variety of such contact, which includes the journeys of cler­gymen, diplomatic missions, and trips of young people to universities. Trade and economic exchange, as well as the activity of Italian merchants and crafts­men on the Vistula, also had a strong bearing on the refashioning of the culi­nary culture. The breakthrough moment was the arrival in Krakow in 1518 of Bona Sforza—who became the wife of the Polish king Sigismund I—and her many courtiers.