Poradnictwo kulinarne okresu PRL jako źródło wiedzy o jedzeniu i ówczesnych warunkach życia codziennego

Abstract

The article presents an attempt to examine what culinary trends were promoted during the Polish People’s Republic in cookbooks and culinary guides published at the time, and what image of the country emerged from such content. The main assumption of the study was that culinary guide writings published during the communist years largely reflected the peculiarities of the era, in its cultural, social and political aspects. In order to examine the subject matter, selected content in publications providing a broad range of household advice was analysed. The conclusions thus reached made it possible to prove that the cuisine of the Polish People’s Republic can be described not only through the lens of rational and collectivised consumption advice, but also in regard to how established traditions were drawn on under conditions of a limited supply of consumer goods.