A couple of months ago, I went to Vilnius for new scenery, to meet a cousin, and to work remotely for a few days. I quickly fell down the rabbit hole of exploring the local food culture with roots in Romuva practice and significant contributions from the city’s Litvak Jewish community. [I wrote about it for BBC Travel](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230118-the-chefs-reclaiming-lithuanias-cuisine). And I meant what I write in the end: “I travel often for food. Few experiences have drastically altered my conception of a national cuisine as my time in Vilnius.”
If interested, I filmed a video summary of the article [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/CnmWVMgOrvx/). I also explore this topic in a four-part video series [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRkk0KGC6eY6ZxyoyFFKYEoXuO2gTdf37).
Luckily I have my cousin in Vilnius, so I’ll get to go back! (Preferably, not in winter :)). So I’d love recommendations of what I missed!
3 comments
Litwak jewish? It’s tautological – lithuanian jewish jewish community.
Sounds like a LARP. Raguolis is literally a German tree cake (baumkuchen), but made better. Half of European countries have it, Europeans even exported it to Japan.
Romuva is also a LARP. If you think anyone can definitely say what the religious practices were in like the 10th century, get real.
You’re fetishising another culture and looking for stuff that may not be there. Somewhat of an orientalist POV.
I feel like next time you could give the spotlight to more everyday foods. Those fancy restaurants that revive our medieval recipes are cool but, frankly, not something that is familiar to most Lithuanias. Those restaurants are not really all that affordable to an average Lithuanian either.
The “touristy” stuff like cepelinai, šaltibarščiai or šakotis is something that we actually eat regularly and something that is comfort food to many. You could try exploring our snacks and sweets. For example, Oho chips are very nostalgic to many because it is something that every schoolkid has eaten since it’s probably the cheapest junkfood. People get into debates about which brand of sūrelis is the best. Some people brew their own kvass. Good bread is such a big deal in our cuisine too. These things are much more familiar to an average Lithuanian than some medieval meals you can only try at an expensive restaurant.
That being said, restaurant recommendations are hard because most of us simply eat traditional foods at home. But if you can make it to Kaziuko mugė (March), you will be able to try out all sorts of traditional food and snacks. This this the biggest fair of our traditional crafts.