This cultural difference has become something that anyone responsible for supermarket stocks needs to focus on, because of the increasing number of migrant workers from Eastern Europe.

Since May 2004, Polish, Lithuanian, Slovakian, Latvian, Estonian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Czech, Cypriot and Maltese citizens have been able to work legally in the UK. They were joined in January by Bulgarians and Romanians. The largest group is Poles, followed by Lithuanians and Slovakians. The growing UK Polish population is now at 750,000 - 2% of the total Polish population. They are also getting younger and are familiar with supermarket shopping.

Slavic and Baltic enclaves are springing up - particularly in parts of London and Cambridgeshire - and the independent grocery channel has been quick to recognise the shift. Signs reading 'We stock Polish food' are becoming familiar sights in these areas, while cash and carry operators Booker, Nisa-Today's and Makro all supply Polish lines. Independent chain Pak Supermarkets has even opened an 80,000 sq ft superstore in Birmingham that caters for Eastern Europeans, among others.

However, most of these workers are also within easy reach of at least one major supermarket and canny multiples have had to review their offerings - both year-round and seasonal - to grab a long-term share of migrant workers' wallets.

"About 10% of the population here comes from Eastern Europe, mainly agricultural workers," says Paul Deary, operations manager for several Budgens stores in Cambridgeshire. "We have dedicated bays of Polish products, which we initially sourced ourselves. It was a challenge and we had some problems finding suppliers. Eventually, we found Polish Speciality Foods in London, then Budgens listed them so now we get them centrally."

Deary says there have been few other problems serving the needs of these new shoppers: "Most of the workers seem to have a good grasp of basic English. A local employer provides buses to bring its work gangs to us and they come with their team leaders, who speak excellent English and can translate if necessary."

She does admit, however, that seasonal variations in shopper numbers can be acute: "We found that sales of the Polish range dropped around Christmas time last year. I think when the factories shut down, many of the workers opt to go back to Poland to see their families."

Budgens is not alone in making provision for the recent arrivals, with almost all the major chains now offering a range of authentic Polish products in selected stores. Foods from Slovakia, Russia, Hungary and Estonia are also likely to filter through as the numbers living here increase.

It's not just consumers from Eastern Europe buying the products. As Eastern European cuisine appears in more restaurants, it is likely to follow Indian, Chinese and Italian in inspiring British consumers to recreate dishes in their own kitchens. "The increase in demand is not solely from the Polish community," says Rebecca Martyn, ethnic buyer for Sainsbury's. "Britain as a nation is remarkably keen to try new things." The multiple rolled out a range of 36 ambient lines based on traditional Polish recipes to 28 Sainsbury's stores at the start of this year, including hunters' stew, zurek soup with saus­ages and boiled eggs, cassis sauce and chocolate-covered marshmallows.

Not surprisingly, Tesco is now at the forefront of the drive for Eastern European ranges, helped by its 245 stores in Poland and established links with local suppliers there. Initially, its Polish range was launched in just 10 UK stores in September last year and was then rolled out to a further 240 in April. This summer, following feedback from monthly focus groups - held in Polish - it swelled the size of its range to 150 lines, including pulpety (meatballs), delicje (biscuits with chocolate and jam), salty sticks, sauerkraut soup and beer brands such as Tyskie. Tesco also extended its Polish range to 370 stores and recently listed Polish seasoning and Kamsi brand spices in all UK stores.

Tesco now sells Polish food in more UK stores than in its Polish stores. Says ethnic food buyer manager Elena Connell: "Having a business in Poland has made it easier for us to bring over the most popular items and keep prices low."

Asda has dramatically increased its ambient ethnic food offer "as a direct result of demand", rolling out 350 Polish lines into 85 stores and siting them next to local ambient products. Morrisons has 55 Polish products, launched into 283 stores in February. The first range under its 'World Foods' banner includes what Morrisons is claiming as the only Polish Bloomer bread produced in-store.

Neil Ovenden is store manager of Waitrose in multi-ethnic Bloomsbury, west London. His store does not have a Polish range, but he says this is largely because much of its existing range already satisfies demand. "We are already catering for a wide range of Eastern European tastes, with an extensive speciality foods range. The Eastern European style is more based around cooking from scratch and we have a lot of the basic ingredients. We stock Polish-style rye bread and we saw a much bigger demand for carp last Christmas."

He says the type of Eastern European customer is also changing: "It used to be students and single people, but we are now seeing more families with more money to spend."n

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