Poles are the fastest growing community in Britain and although 350,000 are officially registered in the UK some estimates extend to as high as one million.

Tayside has joined in the boom, proving particularly attractive to workers from Eastern Europe in recent years.

Last summer an estimated 4000 new arrivals moved to the region.

A spokesman for Tesco told the Tele today stores in Dundee and Perth have seen the demand for Polish food increase tenfold.

Tesco ethnic foods buying manager, Elena Connell, said, “The types of items that Polish people have told us they miss the most are comfort foods such as soup, pickled cabbage, and marshmallows covered with chocolate as well as various meats.”

And while the supermarket has been criticised for placing small firms at risk of going out of business, Polish couple Tomasz and Justyna Zalewscy appear to be bucking that trend with an impressive success story of their own.

The couple came to Tayside three years ago and, after working for various firms, they decided to go it alone, creating Zall Polish delicatessen in Cotton Road, off Victoria Road, last summer.

The success of the couple’s first venture enabled them to expand their Polish delicatessen across the region with a second Tayside venture, Polish Healthy Foods, opening in Perth’s South Street earlier this year.