Taste Atlas, a popular food and travel portal, has published a list of the best gastronomic countries for 2024 and 2025, including Belarus
Greek cuisine takes the first place in the portal’s rating, followed by Italian and Mexican. The top ten also include Spain, Portugal, Turkiye, Indonesia, France, Japan, and China.
Belarus is placed 75th. The Taste Atlas experts recommend to try kalduny (potato pancakes filled with meat or mushrooms), zhur (sour soup made of fermented oatmeal or rye), syrniki (fried cottage cheese pancakes), machanka (meat stewed in broth and traditionally eaten with pancakes), and lasanki (type of pasta). Surprisingly, there are no draniki (potato pancakes) in the top five preferences. Actually, this is not the only oddity. Among the top producers of local delicacies are two distilleries, Minsk’s handmade chocolate workshop and, for some reason, a craft chocolate manufacturer from the UK. Perhaps, the authors of the rating did not confuse the list of top restaurants of national cuisine only, and the top 12 popular national Belarusian dishes also look representative: in addition to those listed above, there are draniki, kholodnik (cold beetroot soup), vereshchaka (meat sauce made with bacon and white sausages, and served with buckwheat pancakes), pechisto (piece of meat baked or stewed in the oven), and others.
Taste Atlas is an encyclopaedia of food and beverages that contains information about traditional dishes, drinks, and ingredients from around the world. It features articles, photographs, and maps showing the variety of cuisines and the cultural significance of food. However, judging by the published rating, it would be good for the compilers to visit Belarus more often – to taste there not only alcoholic beverages and craft chocolate.