Aloya!
I've just returned from an amazing two-week holiday with my boyfriend in Vilnius, Lithuania. The trip consisted of a lot of city walking and touring/sightseeing, meeting my boyfriend's family and friends (a nervy experience!), and getting to grips with traditional Lithuanian food and drink. Naturally, I'm dedicating this blog post to the latter!
I'd say that my diet in Lithuania consisted of the country's staple ingredients/dishes, including a lot of cottage cheese, saltibarsciai, and potatoes.
The food scene is very much alive in LT, especially in the capital city - for this reason alone Vilnius is worthy of a visit, especially for the food lovers among us. Alongside the great GB->LT conversion rate, eating out is practically the same price as eating in, so you can expect a whole lot of food for a fraction of the price you'd usually expect to pay.
In fact, if you manage to grab a flyer for restaurant discount coupons (these can be found fairly easily with a bit of know-how, and in abundance at the entrance to some shopping malls) and you can dine like a King for less than a fiver - honest!
My absolute favourite dish was no doubt saltibarsciai - a traditional cold beetroot soup served with hot roast potatoes on the side, which I unashamedly devoured with joy at least once per day while I was there! With coupons it was priced around 4LT, which is just 90 pence approximately.
The main ingredients of saltibarsciai include kefir, a scoop of sour cream, sliced beetroot (which turns the mixture into what I like to call a Teletubby-custard shade of pink), chopped cucumber/spring onions and half a boiled egg. Overall these contents make for an extremely healthy lunch (pre-lunch/snack for my boyfriend - naturally), and an incredible taste that left me craving for more.
Kefir can be found by the bucketload (but not quite literally) in the supermarkets of Lithuania, yet unfortunately it is somewhat MIA here in England. Out of the entire stock of Tesco, it is minimalized to just one product in the tiny Polish food section (I haven't yet rooted around in other English supermarkets or checked out any specialist Eastern European shops/health food shops, however).
Let's get straight to the point. Kefir is an amazing product because it is full with probiotic bacteria, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, which altogether help to cleanse the body and promote a healthy digestive system (this is important for me particularly as I have a slow-working digestive system).
Meanwhile, beetroots provide an excellent source of iron, energizing carbohydrates, folic acids, vitamins, and - like kefir - contain natural body-cleansing properties (for the blood and colon specifically).
A match made in health heaven? Most likely. I've yet to make my own saltibarsciai but my cravings are kicking in and my fridge is conveniently full of all the necessary ingreds (bar kefir). So, as they say - watch this space.
(A lot more updates to come on life - and food - in Lithuania!).
I've just found your blog. I'm Lithuanian who loves healthy food and lives in UK. Enjoyed this post a lot!
ReplyDeleteHi Justina,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it! Can't wait to get back out to Lithuania this Summer, I'm dying for saltibarsciai and hot weather! (best combination!)
I can't help but agree with you! Saltibarsciai (it's actually a noun which is always plural in Lithuanian) taste even better in hot weather. If you need any help with Lithuanian recipes, let me know. I've only tried mince pies, Fish & Chips, and English breakfast from British cuisine. What traditional English meals would you recommend to try?
ReplyDeleteIt really does! Aw, thank you :) In terms of British meals, I can't really recommend anything particularly apart from perhaps a good hearty Sunday roast dinner (probably my favourite meal). I used to like shephards pie/cottage pie but I don't often eat potatoes anymore...but it's worth a try if you haven't had it before. Another very English dish would be toad in the hole, or 'bangers and mash' - the epitome of English comfort food!
ReplyDeleteOh, I've tried Lithuanian version of shepherds' pie. There's one woman who's married to an English man, and has her own cooking show on TV back in Lithuania so my mother often tries her recipes. Thanks for all the recommendations! Although British cuisine somewhat reminds me of the Lithuanian one (loads of potatoes, meat, milk, carrots, onions), I avoid experimenting with menus in UK. Moreover, I get lost in supermarkets as most of them are packed with frozen or prepared foods, various junk products, sauces, etc. So I stick with the products I know and try making meals my stomach recognizes :D. However, I should be grateful to the UK as only in your country, I "discovered" parsnips, kale, asparagus, spinach... These are not common groceries in Lithuania, which makes them not easy to find nor easy to afford. What do you think about English eating habits?
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry it's taken me so long to reply to your last message!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that sounds interesting - do you remember the chef's name? I would agree in a way - traditional homemade British food is generally hearty, filling and very much based around potatoes and meat, like traditional Lithuanian food! Unfortunately it's becoming increasingly difficult to find decent homemade food in restaurants, it's all becoming processed, fast-food! :( Which the supermarkets have indeed used to their advantage - I really can't understand why people buy the stuff though, especially the plastic-y, prepared ready meals you'll find everywhere - yuck! Luckily my nearest Tesco is massive, so there's a whole aisle for gluten-free products, World foods, a polish section, etc etc! Overall I'd say I'm against the standard, or stereotypical English diet/eating habits - it's very repetitive, i.e. cereal/toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, crisps and processed snacks, and meat, potatoes and veg for dinner - boring! Do the veggies tend to be sold seasonally in Lithuania then? (oh dear - sorry for such a long reply by the way)
Thanks for the answer! I don't check the comments of this post everyday so I'm late with my reply as well :) It's Beata Nicholson. She's got her own blog (http://www.beatosvirtuve.lt/blog/) and you can watch her TV show online (http://www.tv3play.lt/program/beatosvirtuve). Unfortunately, it's all in Lithuanian :( Most of the veggies are sold seasonally although there are a lot of imported products from Poland and other countries. However, Lithuanians tend to be quite conservative and stick with the traditional vegetables. Anyway, I'd say that growing and importing unfamiliar veggies are becoming more and more popular as people want to learn about other cuisines and vary the content of their plates.
ReplyDelete