 Hogweed borscht was mostly a poor man 's food . The soup 's humble beginnings are still reflected in Polish fixed expressions , where " cheap like borscht " is the equivalent of " dirt cheap " ( also attested as a calque in Yiddish and Canadian English ) , whereas adding " two mushrooms into borscht " is synonymous with excess . For the professors of the University of Kraków , who led a monastic way of life in the 17th century , hogweed borscht was a fasting dish which they ate regularly ( sometimes with deviled eggs ) from Lent till Rogation days . It was uncommon on the royal table , although according to the 16th @-@ century Polish botanist Marcin of Urzędów – citing Giovanni Manardo , a court physician to the Jagiellonian kings of Hungary – the Polish @-@ born King Vladislaus II used to have a Polish hogweed @-@ based dish prepared for him at his court in Buda . 
