I love food. Seriously. I love to go grocery shopping, go to restaurants, cook for other people, and I love to eat. Food is a huge part of cultural experiences and living in another country. I get so used to what I eat in Lithuania that I forget sometimes how different some of it really is from what I eat in the States.
In 2000, Lithuania ranked 5th on the world list of potato consumption per capita. They’re cheap – less than $1/kilo, and you can cook them 4,000 different ways. I keep potatoes in a big bright orange casserole dish on top of my refrigerator, and I personally prefer potatoes to be pan-fried with salt and dill, served with a scoop of sour cream or Lithuanian ketchup on the side.
Cepellini, among many things claiming to be the national dish, is sort of like…nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It’s grated potato with extra starch formed into a blimp around a ball of unknown meat. They boil the whole thing, sometimes cooking the meat all the way, sometimes not, and then serve it with sour cream and grits. I’ve only eaten one, and that was at the very beginning of my study abroad experience almost two years ago, and I can still feel it sitting like a rock at the bottom of my stomach.
In the summer, the food to eat is Saltibarsciai, which is literally Cold Borscht. It’s made from pickled beets, milk and Kefyras, which is basically like buttermilk. Throw in some cucumber, dill, and hard-boiled egg and you have yourself a bowl of Amazing Pink Goodness. It’s served cold with hot boiled potatoes on the side, and makes me happier than most things in the world.
During the week, I usually eat lunch in the cafeteria in Michealsen centras at LCC. There’s no food plan; it’s all pay as you go. Usually I eat soup, which is fairly consistently good. It’s always chicken broth-based, and has any assortment of carrots, potatoes, ham, beets, cabbage, hot dogs, beans, peas, chicken, cucumbers and onions that they choose for that day. I usually get something else on hot-dog soup days. I can get a bowl of soup, a glass of water, two slices of Lithuanian rye bread – medium lightness and dense as all get out – and a spurga, which is like a donut hole about 3 inches in diameter that has varske, or curd cheese, mixed into the batter, all for 2.70 lt, or just about a dollar. The cafeteria also sells full meals, including pork or chicken filets served with sauces/toppings of varying levels of interest and familiarity, rice or mashed potatoes, and a salad of some sort. You can get that for 5 lt, or about $2.
Several chains of grocery stores have a presence here, with Iki being the most predominant. “Iki” actually means “see you later” or “come again.” Iki is a modern-style store, at which you can buy almost anything, from socks and neckties to Rubbermaid-style containers and coffee mugs to dishsoap and toilet paper, including most food products available in Lithuania. Some exciting additions to the grocery shelves since my days as a Study Abroad include Worchestershire sauce (not sure how they pronounce that one…), vanilla extract (although it’s extremely concentrated and I’m never sure how much to add), and the consistent availability of tortilla chips (yay…nachos!!). Peanut butter, sharp cheddar cheese, baking powder, roast beef deli meat and pancake syrup have all still managed to avoid this part of the world.
There are also Soviet-style grocery stores where you have to ask for the items from behind the counter, the old market full of all sorts of good things, and also small fruit and vegetable stands on street corners in good weather, some part of a unionized group, some just a couple of cute old ladies and a bushel barrel full of cucumbers. I usually buy apples and onions and mushrooms from babushkas on the street, making their days and mine.
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