While Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian cuisines certainly have their own unique dishes, many of the specialties can be found in all of the Baltic countries. In general we were not too satisfied with Baltic foods, still we definitely discovered some great tasting meals, drinks, and snacks.
Estonia
Dark rye bread is very commonly seen in the Baltics. This bread was created more out of necessity rather then culinary experimentation, as rye grew much easier in these regions. However, when made fresh, it’s pretty delicious. Estonian kiluvoileib, or sprat sandwich, consists of buttered rye bread, topped with Baltic herrings and egg. This dish is very popular among Estonians, however we did not like it at all.
The Estonian cuisine did not quite agree with us, for example we couldn’t bring ourselves to try the blood sausage. It’s loved by Estonians, and the only restaurant that serves it during the summer months (blood sausage is a Christmas special) was fully booked, but needless to say we weren’t too bummed about missing this one.
Kama is a mixture of flours and is supposed to be quite healthy. We mixed a few teaspoons with kefir (fermented milk made with kefir grains) and tried it, however it tasted mostly like baby oatmeal, so we didn’t finish it.
Things did not look up in the dessert section either. We tried the wildly popular kohuke snacks, which are a sweet snack made from curd cheese.. While they didn’t taste bad, they did taste like a slightly sweet cottage cheese with chocolate. The equally popular Grandma’s cake was also a bit of a letdown, and didn’t offer much apart from being something sweet to accompany our coffee with.
Latvia
Things started looking better in Latvia. The first thing we tried as a snack were the piragi; small onion and bacon filled breads, which tasted delicious! We couldn’t get enough of these. They seem to be mostly specific to Latvia.
For lunch we headed to the Central Market and tried kartupeļu pankūkas (potato pancakes), which were delicious. These pancakes can also be found in the other Baltic countries. Combined with some Latvian sauerkraut, the richness of the pancakes is nicely balanced.
We also tried the jāņu siers cheese, which is a type of farmer’s cheese. It doesn’t taste like much, but we liked it on a cracker. We washed the pancakes and cheese down with a shot of black balsam, the traditional Latvian liqueur. We immediately regretted this decision, as it tasted quite bitter! We tried to cover up the taste with the much beloved Napoleon cake, which consists of layers of flaky pastry covered in cream, and sometimes raspberry jam. We weren’t amazed by it, but it definitely helped to fix the bitter taste of the black balsam.
Lithuania
The cuisine of Lithuania was a bit of a miss. First, we tried the cold version of the beetroot soup: šaltibarščiai. This soup is very popular in the Baltics, but wasn’t our cup of soup, we definitely preferred the hot Russian version. It tasted like diluted yogurt with almost non-existent beetroot flavor.
The calorie-rich cepelinai potato, which is a potato dumpling filled with meat, tasted good, but pretty monotone. For drinks, we tried both the gira beverage as well as the cherry wine. While we liked the cherry wine, the gira was so bitter and strange tasting we actually didn’t get beyond one sip.
We decided to finish up with šakotis, a Polish-Lithuanian tree cake made on a spit. This cake was actually our favorite part of the meal. It’s kind of awkward to eat, but delicious, especially when covered in chocolate.
- The best: potato pancakes combined with sauerkraut.
- The worst: black balsam.
- The healthiest: kama.
