Lithuania » Dining in Vilnius

Restaurants in Vilnius have come a long way in recent years. For a capital full of people who love bland spice-less food, Vilnius has an incredible range of ethnic restaurants: Chinese, Greek, Indian, Japanese, Thai, and Lebanese. Lithuanians like to eat good, tasty and filling foods. The tradition of eating well is innate from the ancestors who would say, "He who eats well, works well". Lithuanian traditional cuisine took shape over many centuries and was much influenced by artistic contacts with neighbouring nations.

Potatoes have become an essential starch staple and are eaten throughout the year. Many delicious dishes are made with potatoes. The most popular are cepelinai, kugelis, potato pancakes (bulviniai blynai), potato casseroles etc. Rich soups are served for lunch. Most popular soups are sauerkraut, beet and sorrel, with smoked meat as the base. Meat cooked in soup is often eaten as a second course. Most soups are served with bread or potatoes.

 

One of the oldest and most basic clip foods was and is rye bread. It is eaten every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Two kinds of bread are traditional plain fermented and scalded. Plain fermented bread has been baked from ancient times, while scalded bread has only been baked since the beginning of the 20th century. Even though very few families bake bread at home now, they still value the traditional belief that bread is more valuable than gold.

Fruits and berries and some vegetables are seasonal. During summer they are eaten fresh, but for winter supplies they are dried, fermented and pickled. The most popular fruits are apple, pear, plum, cherry; berries include strawberry, gooseberry, blueberry, cranberry, raspberry, and currant. The most popular vegetables are cabbage, beet, carrot, cucumber, onion, turnip, radish, parsnip and horseradish.