The food we enjoyed in Krakow was top-notch! Wonderful soups, perogies, goulash, roasts, etc. It was typical before each meal to be served fresh rye bread. Poles enjoy butter with their bread, but a more popular spread was a mix of lard and bacon bits. In the above photo you can see a small container of it behind the bread.
The lard spread tastes much better than it sounds and made for a nice local change, but I’ve never tried it before or since. I never knew my paternal grandfather, who was born in Poland, but was told he loved the stuff. He apparently put a layer of lard thicker than the bread itself, topped with salt, before digging in. Not exactly healthy, but that’s what he liked.
Of course, the bread and spread always go well with a fine beer.
The ‘lard with bacon bits’ is common across much of northern and eastern Europe. The Germans call it Griebenschmalz, the Austrians Grammelschmalz. The English expression is pork dripping (but it often does not contain the ‘bits’). You can make it yourself – you will find instructions online.