Poland’s bilberry pastry craze, vintage design revival and summer festivals | Pulse of Culture

Every July, Warsaw falls head over heels for one seasonal pastry, and this week Pulse of Culture is diving into the bilberry madness, the Polish People's Republic-era design revival and the summer festival season taking over Poland.

The jagodzianka is filled with wild bilberries, the smaller, more intensely flavored European cousin of the cultivated blueberry, available for just a few precious weeks each summer. Every July, it brings record queues and record prices to Warsaw's bakeries and has become the surest sign that summer has truly arrived in the capital.

Meanwhile, a new generation is rediscovering the mid-century modern aesthetics of communist-era Poland, from fashion to home decor, with Warsaw's legendary Bazar na Kole flea market and the Life Under Communist Museum leading a quiet revival of pre-1989 design. And Poland's summer festival season is in full swing: Open'er Festival in Gdynia brings international stars, including Florence and the Machine and The Cure, alongside indie newcomers; legendary rock festival Jarocin, born in 1970 as a rare taste of freedom under communism, returns; Audioriver in Łódź delivers three days of world-class electronica; Inne Brzmienia in Lublin offers an escape from algorithm-driven music; Clout Festival brings hip-hop to Warsaw's Bemowo Airport; Malta Festival transforms Poznań with theater, dance and literature; Nowe Horyzonty in Wrocław screens the world's finest cinema; and Radom's Freedom Film Festival celebrates the best short films from Poland and beyond. Finally, Warsaw's Museum of Modern Art continues to turn heads with In the Very Bowels of Change: Surrealism and Antifascism, the blockbuster exhibition exploring the radical political heart of the surrealist movement.

Pulse of Culture is a weekly English-language magazine for anyone with a connection to Poland, including tourists, the diaspora, and the simply curious. New episodes are released every Sunday.

Host: Sally Jastrzębska

Chapters:
00:00 Warsaw summer 2026: blueberry pastry craze PRL design revival and Poland's festivals
01:00 Jagodzianka: Warsaw's seasonal wild bilberry pastry and the queues it creates
04:17 PRL design revival: Bazar na Kole and the communist era aesthetic making a comeback
07:47 Poland summer festivals 2026: Open'er Jarocin Audioriver Inne Brzmienia, Malta Festival Poznan, Nowe Horyzonty Wroclaw and Freedom Film Festival Radom
12:21 Surrealism and Antifascism: the blockbuster exhibition at Warsaw's Museum of Modern Art

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