Krupowki oscypek grills

Along Krupowki, the main pedestrian street, a row of open charcoal stalls grills oscypek to order. Oscypek is the smoked sheep cheese of the Tatra region, and here it is warmed over coals and handed to you with a spoonful of cranberry jam. It is the definitive quick Zakopane snack, eaten on the move as you walk the street.

The order is simple: grilled oscypek with cranberry jam. The heat softens the cheese and gives it a smoky edge, and the sharp-sweet cranberry cuts through it. This is a snack rather than a meal, so pair it with a proper sit-down lunch if you are hungry. Prices vary from stall to stall, so glance at the board before you buy.

Oscypek is a traditional product of the Podhale highlands, made from sheep milk and smoked, and it carries protected regional status. Grilling it on the street is a Zakopane fixture, and the stalls run the length of the busiest part of Krupowki. It is as much a part of the walk as the shops around it.

Anyone walking the street who wants a hot, cheap bite without stopping to sit. If you want the same cheese as part of a full meal, the town's karczmas serve it too, among them Bakowo Zohylina and Karczma Zapiecek.

The stalls run along Krupowki itself, so you pass them as you walk the centre. Everything central is right there. For orientation and getting around, see the Zakopane guide.

The cheese itself carries protected status. Oscypek was the first Polish product to win the EU's Protected Designation of Origin, registered in February 2008, so the name can only be used for cheese made to the traditional Tatra method. Under those rules it must be at least 60 percent sheep's milk and is pressed into its distinctive spindle shape.

Genuine oscypek is also seasonal. The protected recipe ties production to roughly late April through early October, when the flocks graze on fresh mountain pasture, which is why the Krupowki grills are at their most authentic in the warmer months.