Q. Why did the mushroom go to the party?

A. Because he was a Funghi

I reckon one of Poland's finest vegetables is not as you might suspect the potato, but the mushroom.

I visit a market every Tuesday morning in a district of Warsaw called Koło, where for the last two or three weeks they've been selling Kurki mushrooms. They're absolutely delicious, and if you eat enough of them you start seeing purple elephants dancing around the room playing trombones (ok I made the last bit up).

I think they're actually just chanterelle mushrooms, but I prefer Kurki as it sounds a lot more Polish. They tend to be sold by wizened old men, who only ever seem to have a couple of boxes of them for sale at any one time. Apparently the old men pick them from the forests in the morning.

They're invariably rather grubby (the mushrooms AND the old men) but when washed, taste lovely in omelettes with a bit of chive (the mushrooms NOT the old men). Yum!