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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Polish users have reacted with surprise and amusement to a recent viral trend on video-sharing platform TikTok in which women from outside the region praise the alleged health and beauty benefits of a “Slavic diet” based around eating buckwheat.
Videos on the subject have drawn millions of views, but they often contain items of food that are not traditional or common among the Slavic peoples of central and eastern Europe.
One example, which has been viewed over 1.4 million times since being posted yesterday, shows a woman called Dani Cole “eating like a Slavic doll”, with a plate full of buckwheat accompanied by vegetables, fried eggs and, most controversially, avocado.
@danicolexx Buckwheat and avocado is so good #foodtok #slavicgirl #diet #whatiate #slavicdoll ♬ son original – FYP 🤍🇲🇺
The first such videos emerged on the platform in late September. One by a user called “anuutavg”, which has over 3.5 million views, says that “Slavic girls know the ultimate trick to staying skinny is buckwheat”.
The “Slavic diet” trend seems to be part of a broader tendency of young foreign audiences to praise and look up to purported “Slavic beauty standards”.
Popular videos show Slavic “beauty secrets”, traditional regional clothing and stereotypical images of Slavic women in fur coats with heavy make-up and long hair.
@anuutavg This is now a buckwheat stan account #fyp #foryoupage ♬ She’s Back – Sexyy Red
But it was the buckwheat trend that was quickly noticed by Polish users. Some creators decided to respond, jokingly debunking the narrative by pointing out that the dishes being shared have little to do with how Slavs really eat, but also making serious points about the stereotyping of women from the region.
“It’s 2024 – actually the end of it – and American women have just discovered buckwheat,” a user under the name “just_sayin_ang” said ironically in a video explaining the trend. Her reaction had amassed over 2.2 million views and more than 225,000 likes at the time of writing.
“My mother didn’t raise chickens, plant potatoes and make pickles so that America can think our ‘Slavic diet’ is buckwheat, egg and avocado,” read another caption in a video posted by a woman called Sylwia, which has 1.3 million views and almost 165,000 likes.
@sylwiacurylo change my mind #slavicgirl #slavicdiet #kaszagryczana #jajko #awokado #egg #avocado #poland #america #buckwheat ♬ оригинальный звук – 14prosto_marta
Many Polish TikTokers shared videos showing the “real” Slavic diet consisting of traditional Polish dishes such as a mayonnaise-heavy boiled vegetable salad, ham, deviled eggs, hearty soups and heavy desserts as well as shots of vodka – ingredients that are not associated with slim figures or healthy lifestyles.
In response to such criticism, “anuutavg” published a video today saying that she has been bombarded with critical comments from the “Slavic food police”. She hit back, saying that adding new items, such as avocado, to traditional dishes is fine. She also said that she herself is Slavic.
@anuutavg I am literally slavic and youre all so unbelievably annoying. #fyp #foryoupage #slavicfood ♬ W Moim Ogródecku – Rokiczanka
Buckwheat is believed to have been brought to Poland by the Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group, and has been cultivated in the country since the 15th century. Contrary to popular belief, it is actually not a cereal but is often treated as one due to its similarities to cereals.
In Poland, traditional buckwheat dishes usually include some combination of bacon or lard, onion, pickles, beetroot, and mushroom sauce and are often served with a glass of soured milk or kefir. Buckwheat is also used in the Polish version of blood sausages, more popular among older generations of Poles.
Despite Polish cuisine often being stereotyped as meaty and stodgy, the country in fact has a long history of vegetarian dishes. In recent years, it has also seen a boom in plant-based cooking, with Warsaw regularly ranked among the most vegan-friendly cities in the world.
Polish cuisine has a reputation for being meat heavy, with its kiełbasa sausages, pork cutlets and smalec lard spread.
Yet Poland has a rich culinary and ideological vegetarian tradition, writes Natalia Mętrak-Ruda https://t.co/O8O7QKy1xH
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 19, 2024
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: KEP/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.
