When young adults come to Kraków in the Capital to get a stateside experience of World Youth Day on July 30, they will be able not only to see the sights and sounds of that international gathering with Pope Francis taking place in Poland via live TV coverage on big screens, but they will also be able to participate in traditional Polka dancing led by Polish folk dancers, and enjoy classic Polish cuisine, including pierogies and kielbasa prepared by a Polish couple.

Danuta Konefal has been making the traditional Polish dish of pierogies since she was growing up in Poland and would help her mother by pressing the edges of two pieces of dough together with her fingers. After she married her husband, Bogush, she decided to try making the dough from scratch for the first time, which proved to be a process of trial and error.

On her first try, Konefal used cold water, which made the pierogies too hard. After talking to the wife of her husband’s track and field coach, who had served them soft pierogies, she discovered the secret that you must use hot water to make the dough. Since this discovery, she has perfected the recipe of flour, salt, oil, and hot water, and has fed thousands of people.

The catering company that the Konefals now run, Creative European Cooking, has provided Polish food for the Polish Embassy, Wizards player Marcin Gortat, and many families’ Christmas dinners. Their next challenge will be serving thousands of pierogies, along with kielbasa, at Kraków in the Capital.

The Konefals are working together to feed the crowd of young adults who are coming to celebrate World Youth Day stateside at a gathering at The Catholic University of America. They began preparing about a month ago, with Bogush making the white farmer cheese and potato filling, and Danuta making the dough and putting the pierogies together by hand. After returning from her day job of teaching Polish to people preparing to work at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in Poland, Konefal usually spends about two hours in the kitchen preparing around 150 pierogies, which she will freeze and then cook on the weekend of Kraków in the Capital.

The Konefals moved to the United States about 19 years ago in order to create better opportunities for themselves and “to open the gate” for their daughter, Alexandra. They are both teachers, and during Poland’s Communist rule, teachers earned barely enough money to pay the bills, she said. Konefal remembers living in Poland when it was nearly bankrupt and there was “no food, no clothes, no shoes in the store.”

When they first came to the United States, the Konefals began by working many shifts in a restaurant called the Eiffel Tower Café, dishwashing and waiting tables. In the evenings, Konefal signed up for English classes at various churches.

“You have to be hard working” to succeed as an immigrant, Konefal said, but “It was worth it.”

While she is happy with the life she and her family how have in the United States, she still holds on to her Polish roots. She is a parishioner of Our Lady, Queen of Poland and St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Silver Spring, and the Konefals return to Poland for a few weeks each year. She is looking forward to hearing Polish music at Kraków in the Capital, and hopes that many Polish people in the area will help to showcase the culture.

For the young adults attending Kraków in the Capital, the all-day festival will be filled with faith that they share with their peers, complete with a side dish of pierogies and kielbasa, to give them a taste of Poland.