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Eat & Drink

Roncesvalles Polish Festival, Hold the Polish

Posted by Guest Contributor / September 22, 2009

17 Comments

Roncesvalles Polish FestivalI went to this weekend's Roncevalles Polish Festival with two goals. One: Dominate the High Park progeny in a bouncy castle. Two: Find the best places for Polish food.

Finding authentic stuff, however, was a little tricky. The UN of cuisine infiltrated an otherwise Pole-tastic street party. Among sausages and sauerkraut were styrofoam plates of Greek, Malaysian and Spanish munchies. (At least churros are served on the same continent as Poland, right?) Even Tiny Tom donuts made an appearance.

Roncesvalles Polish FestivalBack to the task at hand, key Polish spots were (fortunately) easy to distinguish by (unfortunately) gigantic line-ups; classic Roncesvalles go-tos like Granowska's for baked goods, hearty Cafe Polonez, and Chopin with its Anglo-friendly menu. After being rejected by the agist bouncy castle staff, the obvious next step was a visit to enthusiastically named Super Kolbasa. The deli offers endless coils of kolbasa, cheese and fresh-baked bread, while the shelves are stocked with foreign language, packaged treats for "guess the flavour" fun.

Roncesvalles Polish FestivalThis year's festival made it clear that the strip is losing its cultural niche to more yuppie-friendly joints like Freshwood Grill or Buddha Dog (and as a young professional, I'm not complaining), so it was nice to see at least one dive serving $2 czerwony barszcz (beet soup) street-side to a patio of grey-haired, Polish men. It's just too bad none of them wanted to be my pierogi Daddy.

Roncesvalles Polish Festival

Writing and photos by Emily Stover.

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17 Comments

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JH / September 22, 2009 at 02:41 am
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"This year's festival made it clear that the strip is losing its cultural niche to more yuppie-friendly joints like Freshwood Grill or Buddha Dog (and as a young professional, I'm not complaining)"

No way. No how. The Polish will hold tighter than a coil of kielbasa...
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ok / September 22, 2009 at 08:06 am
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roncesvalles isn't high park, it's roncesvalles.
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geg replying to a comment from ok / September 22, 2009 at 08:23 am
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I'm worried that high park is losing its unique cultural flavour on account of the condos in yorkville
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sanjay replying to a comment from geg / September 22, 2009 at 08:29 am
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Maybe it is losing some of it's culture
but that's a lot better than empty stores and winos which would be around if it wasn't for new businesses coming in
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Sniderscion / September 22, 2009 at 08:57 am
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More images from the Roncesvalles Polish Fest and some fromthe Bloor West Ukrainian fest from the same day here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sniderscion/
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Ugh / September 22, 2009 at 09:10 am
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Utterly unreadable.

And I guess because you can get falafel on College, all of the Italians are being chased out as well.

We don't want you in Krak anyways.
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Nat / September 22, 2009 at 09:19 am
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pssss. it's "czerwony barszcz"
But yeah I've noticed a similar trend at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival... more non-Ukrainian food. Kind of had a strange feeling to it.
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Milewski / September 22, 2009 at 11:51 am
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My babcia could make a piece of leather taste like the most expensive cut of meat, I miss her and her cooking.
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Gosia / September 22, 2009 at 12:56 pm
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I had a great time at the Polish Festival. I didn't find that there was too much other ethnic foods. I mean really, there doesn't have to be perogies at every corner. Us Polish people like to eat other types of foods too and we are not ones to turn away vendors from a fun time!
My favorite was the typical Polish street treat, the baguette with mushrooms and cheese melted on top. You can get that instead of hot dogs in Poland. This should be available everyday in Toronto.
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Mark / September 22, 2009 at 01:30 pm
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I don't really agree with the argument that the festival wasn't Polish enough. There was plenty of Polish food and other non-Polish festival options, but all of the large on-street bars set up for the fest were serving Polish beer and vodka, and there was lots of Polish music and dancing going on. The whole thing still seemed plenty Polish to me.
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may / September 22, 2009 at 02:34 pm
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I visited the Polish festival for the first time(I have lived in the area since I was 3) and also visited the Ukrainian Festival in the Bloor West Village. I thought that the latter was better as it was confined to a smaller area and seemed to have better food. The Roncesvalles Polish festival had the alternative lifestyle vendors(tatoos anyone?) out in full force, and I just actually went to support the merchants as it is difficult for me to get down there with the construction going on. I used to go down to Roncesvalles with my mother when I was small and get deli food, freshly baked cakes and fruit and veggies. I still occasionally walk down in summer and get veggies, fruits and visit the Sobey's. I went into Loons this time and paid $8 for a glass of wine. Not much for me there.
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thatguy replying to a comment from Gosia / September 22, 2009 at 03:48 pm
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Ahh you mean Zapiekanki, I love them. I make them at home all the time. Simple to make. A cheese melt pizza hybrid on baguette. Mushrooms and cheese are the mains, but you can season with anything else to taste.
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Asia / September 22, 2009 at 03:50 pm
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Terribly written article. Next time, do some research by ASKING I don't know... the Polish names (and not just "czerwony barszcz")of the food you consumed and how they were made and the cultural significance of the food. Maybe focus more on the CULTURE of Poland and not the lack of authenticity of it in Roncesvalles. What about informing your readers of the picture posted of the Polish dancers? Did you even bother asking the name of the dances and what they historically represent?
This puff-piece of an article is a perfect example of the complete lack of research done by BlogTO writers.
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thatguy / September 23, 2009 at 10:47 am
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Emily I would not worry about that attack.
I'm born Polish and enjoyed your piece. Perfect for a blog, this isn't a full fledged newspaper article. Glad you enjoyed a bit of our culture and shared your experience. You have no duty to do more.

Asia if will complain about a guests subpar writing, why don't you do something better and share your culture with us.

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Asia replying to a comment from thatguy / September 23, 2009 at 03:42 pm
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I did share my culture with everybody AT the Roncesvalles Polish Festival. I was one of the people who volunteered in serving the polish food at the festival and answering cultural questions to those who actually took interest. So yes, it is very disheartening to read an article that doesn't properly represent what the festival had to offer.
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thatguy replying to a comment from Asia / September 23, 2009 at 07:15 pm
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It's represents a persons experience and it's valid. It's kind of what I expect from Web Logs, i find it refreshing to 'properly' written articles.

If the star makes a blunder than fine, a person's testimony is what it is. The whole UN of food at every street festival is actually a topic i am interested in. They don't add anything to the culture of those events. They just tag along where ever a buck is to be made. They are the food paparazzi.
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jaysterjo / September 25, 2009 at 08:07 am
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This Is Part Of An Interview That Skaza Skazownik Did After He Returned To Chicago............

"I'm Skaza Skazownik And I Had A Privelage To Be And Preform At The Roncensvalles Festival. I Live In Chicago And I Have To Say I Was Impressed With Everything I Encountered There .
The People Of Toronto Are Great And I Will Be There Again Soon ,
PEACE"
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