Toasted Sandwich · Communist-Era Icon

Zapiekanka

Photo: MichalPL / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Its best-known home is Plac Nowy in Kraków's Kazimierz, where hatches around a round old market hall sell zapiekanki late into the night.

Zapiekanka is a halved baguette toasted open-face with sautéed mushrooms and melted cheese, finished with a squeeze of ketchup, and sold up to half a meter long from street stands and food trucks. Modern versions pile on ham, bacon, or whatever toppings a vendor has on hand.

Why it's made this way: It appeared in the 1970s, when simple bars began toasting halved baguettes with mushrooms and cheese as a cheap hot meal, and it became a lasting habit through the shortages of the following decade.