Let me start with an apology and the explanation. The list below is not a list of favourite foods; being a food-obssesive with all the good and bad aspects of that obsession I cannot possibly write a list of 10 favourite foods.
However, let me introduce to some foodstuffs that are available in virtually every corner shop and greengrocer in Poland but are either not available here or difficult to find, expensive or, simply terribly underused and underrated.
1) SOUR CHERRIES. I still cannot believe that there is actually a fruit which simply does not seem to exist in Britain in a fresh form. I suspect the problem is linguistic: to you sour cherry are just a kind of cherry (what else could it be). To me a cherry is a cherry is a cherry (czeresnia in Polish); while sour cherry; ah, that is a different story. Sour cherry is not a 'czeresnia', sour cherry is called 'wisnia' (pronounced 'visna'; a Turkish word I believe) and apart from looks does not have that much to do with 'cherry cherry'. It is always red, and the main difference you can tell it by is that it does not retain stalks when picked (you pick them off the stalks rather than with the stalks like normal cherries). The taste? It is, well, sour, but also sweet and tangy, and has a bit of bitter undertaste. It is a very flavoursome fruit, possibly least bland of fruits from Northern climes; and quite a grown up one at that, though many children also like them (Polish children do, anyway).
You can just scoff them from a bowl, but I do recognise that this might not be to everybody's taste. However, cooking potential of sour cherry is enormous. It can be made into a pie (I believe some of Tesco's cherry pies are made with sour cherries rather then more common morellos, but they are drenched in too much cornflowery goo for my taste), jam or even better — a wonderful preserve. Imagine digging with a spoon into a jar full of dark-red, sticky, sour-cherry syrup and fishing out those little gems... You can also cook savouries with sour cherry, as in duck with sour cherries. You can pickle them. However, the best thing is to use them to make a sour-cherry liqueur. You start with fruit (unpitted to retain the bitterness of the stones, sugar and spirit (yes, spirit, 97% alcohol, vodka is too weak) some time in July. Wait until at least September, topping up with vodka as necessary. What emerges is a slightly viscous, sweet, bitter and flavoursome liqueur which can be drank neat but also used in deserts and even poured into tea (no milk in THIS tea, please). Ah, you can also eat the fruit.
Please, bring the sour cherry in!!!!
2) TWARÓG. I don't know a proper English name for that. If somebody does, please let me know. It is fresh curd cheese, or cottage cheese but it is not broken into small bits, it retains its shape and can be cut into crumbly slices. We sometimes call it white cheese, but Cheshire or Mozzarella are also white and this is not like that. The best approximation is probably to imagine cottage cheese with salt and water taken away and in one, sliceable piece.
It comes in full-fat, medium-fat and low-fat varieties and is a staple of many a diet as it's cheap (especially in the low-fat version); good fro you and can be very tasty. What can you do with it? Well, the best use you can have for white cheese is to turn it into cheesecake, proper, heavy, sweet, moist thing of golden colour and melting in your mouth. It makes a good filling for pancakes when mashed up with sour cream, raisins, cinnamon and sugar. It works well on bread (especially black bread — see below) with sprinkling of fresh herbs or radish slices. I know you can get cottage cheese here but it's usually low fat and nowhere near as nice as fresh Polish 'twaróg'. For making of the cheesecake I usually buy curd cheese (not stocked everywhere anyway) but it is simply bit to creamy and mashed to be the right stuff.
3) KEFIR. Another dairy product, I am afraid. This one is a simple one — it is basically kind of yogurth (fermented milk drink, basically), but with a different, sourer taste. It is drinkable rather than eatable and apart from being very nice on its own goes well with breakfast cereals, made up into fruity smoothies, as well as forming, together with beetroot stock the basis for cold soup containing apart from kefir and beetroot stock all kinds of salady summery vegetables. Boiled crayfish, egg or veal is also often included.
4) The above brings me neatly to the next position which is VEAL. Before you all rush to condemn me for animal cruelty, I would like to say that I DO NOT MEAN the pallid, white, vaguely revolting meat of crated calves. I mean simply meat from young cattle, free range or organic would be the best. There is lamb (young sheep), there is chicken (young hens), why is there no veal? It is a delicate meat and is often served in a mild sauce made with white stock, cream and eggs. It is also traditionally the first meat given to babies and something you would feed to old and infirm.
5) Another carnivorous product that seems rare in British shops is CARP in particular and freshwater fish in general (except for trout). I understand that UK abounds in sea fish for fairly obvious reasons but it would be nice to have a freshwater fish from time to time. Carp is the traditional Christmas Eve fish, eaten in many forms form jellied to fried to served in a sweet ginger-raisin-almond sauce; but others (whose names I don't even know in English) are also interesting and can form a pleasant change.
6) POPPYSEED. Yes, I know you can buy it in little bags like herbs and spices. That won't be exactly sufficient to make a poppyseed cake though, would it? Or even better, a whole, glorious poppyseed gateau where flour is in 90% replaced by triple-minced poppyseed; sandwiched with coffee flavoured buttercream and decorated with walnuts?
7) DILL. This one is probably one of the most available here; but in Poland it is a staple herb with chives and parsley and is available in every greengrocer and supermarket's fresh produce section while here it is still a bit of a rarity.
I recall a woman at a checkout handling a bunch which was not bar-coded and having to ask me what that was! Well, the British introduced me to the delights of mint and sage (I always thought you took those things if you had a sore throat); so let me repay this debt by telling you about dill. It is a subtle herb with mild, very refreshing smell, fresh taste and striking green colour. I believe it is related to fennel but much less aniseedy. It is supposed to be good for digestion but apart from that it is a wonderful herb that can be used fresh — try it in dips, salads and especially on boiled potatoes instead of mint or chives. Added to white sauce base dill makes good sauce for delicate meats and fish. It can be used in marinade for Gravalax (Scandinavian cured salmon). There is also a variety which is grown until mature — when it stops looking green and fresh and becomes slightly yellow and develops flowery heads full of seeds it becomes the essential ingredient for making pickled dill cucumbers. These are pickled only in the loosest sense, as vinegar is not used in making them but rather a natural fermentation process like in making sauerkraut. If you ever tried them from a shop-bought jar it might have given you a bit of wrong impression. The only good ones are home-made; I have never ever tried a packaged variety which would do them justice.
8) BLACK BREAD. The bread story is a long long one. I always wondered why the bread here is so, well, wet is really the best word. Now I know (for explanation I refer you to 3-May Guardian where an excelent article on the subject was published). Now, for this black bread. It is strictly speaking very brown but it looks and tastes nothing like brown or wholemeal British bread. First of all is very heavy, dense, slightly moist bread that can last for about a week without any preservatives. It is an extreme version of a wholemeal, made with rye flour. The best approximation is probably obtained from plastic-packed, German or Dutch made 'health' breads that you can find in some supermarkets. But they are plastic-packed, full of preservatives and nothing like the freshly baked, nicely smelling, slightly crusty 'razowy' with fragrant (unsalted!) butter and acacia honey or some fresh curd cheese and chives.
9) HORSERADISH that comes like nature intended, either as a root to be peeled, grated and prepared or grated in a jar with a bit of lemon juice/citric acid, instead of those oily ready-mixed sauces that are available here. [now, I have to own up as I checked and did find some horseradish like that in Somerfield yesterday, it still contained oil for some reason, so it probably IS available in bigger supermarkets. It was extortionately expensive, though]. Such horseradish can be than used to prepare a cold horseradish sauce, with sour cream, grated boiled egg and a bit of sugar. Or hot horseradish sauce, great with boiled beef. Or horseradish stuffing, mixed with breadcrumbs and inserted between slices of roast beef for the final hour of cooking.
10) SAUSAGES. As all of you who read my Poland op would know (nothing like a new review for plugging old work!) Poland is a country of pig-eaters and sausages are ever-present. Now, we have some raw sausages like the ones you can buy in Britain (in fact, coming here opened a whole new world of raw sausage to me). But the ones I miss are ones that have been boiled and/or smoked and thus are edible as they are, on sandwiches, in salads or for adding to cooked dishes. Sausages come in all lengths and shapes and all price and quality brackets. The best ones have a lot of lean meat and not too much fat (some fat is, I am afraid essential). They are not particularly healthy things because of all the nitrates and salt the meat is treated with, but in moderation can be wonderful. My favourite one is 'Krakowska Sucha'. If you are a ham eater, try it if you have a chance and I am sure you will like it. A word of warning: do not buy british-made approximations (I know Sainsbury sell British made 'Kabanos'). If you buy it at all, go for the genuine article from Poland. Krakus, Morliny or PEK are good brands.
I MISS YOU ALL SO 
