... People had to look for food in the forest and in the meadows, hence the menu of Lemkos and Boykos often featured mushrooms, hazelnuts or blueberries, and even nettle or even lebioda, thanks to which it was possible to wipe out the most difficult periods of crop failure or war. Of course, the basic raw materials from which the dishes were made were cow's, goat's or sheep's milk, from which cheese and butter were made. On the basis of them, various meals were invented, mixing them with everything "that was possible". Grain was an equally important ingredient. When describing the menu of the Bieszczady Lemko-Boyko borderlands, Oskar Kolberg often mentions the role played by oats, calling the described areas "oat soil". He recounts an anecdote, how the local highlanders returned to their hometowns from near Lviv, where they worked for several months, and halfway there met the countrymen walking in the opposite direction. They rejoiced greatly, not only because of the meeting of their kinsmen, but also because of the oat bread that they had with them and which they already missed, and not because of any of his qualities, but the raw taste, which reminded the family swings and mountains. Meat was eaten little, and only the richest farmers did it, usually for larger holidays or weddings. Poultry was also rarely eaten, because the hens were kept mainly for eggs, and the broth was most often associated with the chicken's disease, and thus the death accelerated by the host before it itself dies. Eggs were also used relatively little, because they were sold, for which money was obtained necessary to buy salt, sulfur, i.e. matches and other things that could not be produced at one's own expense and had to be bought in the city. It is worth mentioning here, however, that in the villages where there were salt springs, and there were many of them, in the period when there was not enough money, people themselves obtained salt from them by regenerating it from the water. This was done even during the Second World War. Potatoes (compers, banduras, potatoes, etc.) were an important element of the Boyko and Lemko diets. Since they spread in these areas in the eighteenth century, they have become a permanent part of the folk menu, becoming perhaps the main ingredient of the dishes. They were eaten in every possible way, ranging from baked in the fire to the most sophisticated dishes. Today it is hard to imagine that two hundred years ago they were completely unknown here. The same is true of the Kulesza, i.e. the East-Boyko and Hutsul varieties of Mamaliga, made of corn flour, i.e. a product of all kinds of foreign origin, which has settled in the mountains for good. Italian cuisine also spread in Polish cuisine only in the Renaissance, and it reached the mountains with a considerable delay and was initially accepted by the peasants with great reserve. This fact is surprising, as it is now the basic ingredient of many meals. While ensuring, perhaps not fully consciously, vitamin C during the winter, sauerkraut and cucumbers were pickled, which were then eaten for many months, and soups were cooked with cabbage kvass. Sour rye soup was also often brewed, which was a frequent visitor to the Bieszczady tables. Mushrooms and fruits were also dried for the winter, and then made into a series of usually simple but very tasty dishes. There were also alcoholic beverages. Wines imported from Hungary or mead were usually beyond the financial capacity of the rural population. Rather, they stood on noble tables. In the villages, palinka was consumed most often, and from the seventeenth century it began to supersede vodka, made from grain and potatoes, more and more. The abundance of potatoes in Galicia in the first half of the 19th century meant that as much as 40% of alcohol in the entire Habsburg monarchy was produced here. This led to such drunkenness among the peasants that the imperial administration was forced to introduce restrictions on the distribution of vodka in Galicia. Beer was also drunk, but it was usually dark and rather weak. Only from 1842, thanks to the success of the brewers from Pilzno, bright Pilzner began to conquer the Habsburg monarchy and then the whole world. Now, when all regions, especially the tourist ones, are looking for their cultural curiosities, dormant in the darkness of not so distant history, it is also worth using old recipes and reviving our grandmothers' dishes "for health and common joy". eating, especially drinking ... "

Source: a publication by Robert Bańkosz: Bieszczadzkie dishes of the Polish-Ukrainian borderland