3.
There are only 1,993,300 people living in Latvia. More than half of Latvian people (1,018,295) live in Riga, Latvian capital city.
Latvians love to grow their own. Most of Latvian households have their own allotment, garden, summer house with a plot of land or farmland to grow their own vegetables and fruits.
Before Latvia joined EU, almost all rural families kept domestic animals for meet, eggs and milk. Most of Latvians stopped keeping animal because of strict EU regulations. But still many Latvians remember the taste of proper meat!
Latvia is full of lakes and rivers, that is why fishing is very popular. Latvians not only catch fishes, but also take them home and cook or smoke them.
There are many hunting clubs in Latvia, and Latvian hunters enjoy cooking and eating fowl and busmeat
6. Latvian manufacturing and farming are in decline, that is why Latvians can use all the benefits of their nature. Latvians like foraging in their forests and meadows.
Latvian forests are full of edible and very tasty berries and mushrooms.
8. Alpine strawberryCranberry
Forest berries are smaller than garden varieties, that is why it takes hours to get full basket of them. But picking forest berries is definitely worth an effort because these berries are much more fragrant than garden berries.
11. Latvian winters can be very harsh with the temperature up to -30 Celsius degrees. That is why Latvians are good at food preservations. Latvian households usually have loads of jars with pickles, mushrooms, jams, juices, compotes, salads etc.
Latvians store their winter supplies in basements and cellars. Even apartment houses have basements to allow flats’ owners to store their preserves and vegetables.
12.
Latvians eat a lot of pickled gherkins. Fresh cucumbers available at supermarkets are not suitable for pickling. Only gherkins –little prickly cucumbers –are the best choice for pickling. Every Latvian can easily tell whether a gherkin is well pickled or not. There are different methods of pickling.
gherkins
Cucumbers
13. Sauercraut, directly translated: "sour cabbage", is finely cutcabbage that has beenfermentedby variouslactic acid bacteria.It has a longshelf lifeand a distinctivesourflavour, both of which result from thelactic acidthat forms when the bacteria ferment the sugars in the cabbage. Dishes with sauerkraut are very popular in Latvia. There are some of them:
Fresh sauercraut
14. Latvian Cuisine
Traditional Cuisine
Cuisine coming from neighbouring countries and countries which ruled over Latvian territory in the past
15. Latvian food is generally quite fatty and Latvians use fewspices. Latvians value the natural taste of food, that is why generally seasonings aren't very popular. The most common spices in Latvian food are:
Onion
Garlic
Black pepper
Caraway seeds
18. Shashlikisn't Latvian traditional dish, it is probably borrowed from Crimean Tatars, but it is so popular, that it is difficult to imagine social gatherings or celebrations without it.
The most popular meat for shashlikin Latvia is pork and chicken.
The meat needs to be marinated. For marinades Latvians use:
•
Vinegar
•
Mayonnaise
•
Wine
Into marinades Latvians add:
•
Onions
•
Herbs
•
Spices like allspice
Mangalwith skewers
19. For main course Latvians prefer to have chops or cutlets. Chops and cutlets can be prepared from any kind of meat, but the most common is chicken and pork.
ChopCutlet
20. Germans ruled over Latvian territory for long 360 years, that is why Latvians are in deep love with all sorts of sausages.
21. Aspic is a cold dish in which meat is set into gelatine made from a meat stock. It is very popular dish for celebrations, but aspic is very common thing in Latvians’ fridges too. It’s not possible to make aspic without:
1. A huge stewpan2. Pork head and legs
24. Pelmeniis Russian dish. Latvians love them so much! Freezers in Latvian grocery stores are full of them. Pelmeniaredumplingsconsisting of a filling wrapped in thin, unleaveneddough. Most of people boil them, but let me tell you one secret –they actually taste better when roasted!
28. Herring in a Jacket
rollmops
barbecued
marinated
29. Small herrings called SALAKA (rus) or REŅĢES (lv) are the cheapest fish in Latvia. But it is tasty fish too! Many Latvian people and cats can’t live without this fish. If you buy a bag of salaka, smallest fish will eat your cat, but from biggest ones you can prepare something like this dish:
30. Buckwheat is the fourth most important product for lunch after potatoes, pasta and rice. Latvians eat large quantities of buckwheat.
31. Many Latvians prefer to eat porridge for breakfast. Latvians eat oatmeal, but also porridges from other grains.
Pearl barley
oats
rice
Corn grits
millet
Pea grits
Manna - croup
Barley grits
32. Many Latvians keep bees themselves. There is bee keeping society in Latvia and many 'honey shops' where you can buy all sorts of honey, bee bread, bee pollen, propolis, beeswax and beekeeping tools. Latvians distinguish and sell separately different sorts of honey:
Highly liquid honey (white clover, clover honey)
Liquidhoney(linden, buckwheat, rape honey)
Thickhoney(dandelion, sainfoin honey)
Very thick, sticky honey(honeydewhoney)
Gelatinoushoney (heather honey)
33. Honey cake Hazelnuts, Baked apples
walnuts and with honey
cranberries and nuts
in honey
34. You can find all sorts of dairy products on Latvian supermarkets’ shelves. But there are some products especially valued and used by Latvians:
soured cream
cottage cheese
curd snacks
buttermilk
kefir
clabber
Ligocheese
melted cheese
smoked cheese
Russian cheese
35. Latvians can’t do without soured cream. They add soured cream everywhere where they can. They add it to soups, use as salad dressing, make sauces from it, use as the base for cake dough.
36. Latvians make pancakes, cakes, doughnuts, pies with cottage cheese. Or they use it as filling for pancakes or make cold snacks with it. Latvian curd snacks are brilliant!
37. Latvians make very tasty pancakes using kefir or buttermilk or clabber.
Latvians drink kefir like milk.
Kefir or clabber is the base for very tasty beetroot cold soup.
38. Ligocheese –a special cheese for summer solstice celebration
Melted cheese
Smoked cheese
Smoked cheese sausage
Russian cheese
39. You can find all sorts of bread on supermarkets' shelves. There will be white, grey and dark rye bread.
Dark rye bread plays a very important role in Latvian’s life. It is unlike other rye breads you have tasted and it is still made according to old recipes -often made by hand. Latvian meals are always served with bread of some type. Dark rye bread is usually made of rye flour, buttermilk, salt, water and caraway seeds.
There is Bread Museum in Aglonawhere you can see how bread is made and taste different bread types.
40. Butterbrot
Layered Latvian Rye Bread Dessert
Sweet Rye Bread Soup
Crackers with Garlic
Rye Bread with Dried Fruits and Nuts
41. Latvian stomach starts aching if its owner does not eat soups. It is considered that a person should eat soups if not every day, then at least three-four times a week. There are some popular soups:
SolyankaBorschtSorrel soupMeatball soup
42. Latvians usually drink tea without milk. They like to drink tea with lemon.
Many Latvians like coffee and hot chocolate.
In many Latvian grocery stores you can buy coffee-like chicory drink too.
All Latvians share their love to herbal tea. Gathering herbs for teas is a very popular pastime in Latvia. Latvian herbal teas are both tasty and healthy. From our grandmas we have inherited the magnificent know-how on nature powers.
chicory
43. Latvians usually don’t drink raw tap water. Tap water needs to be at least boiled to drink it.
Latvians drink raw water from wells and wellsprings. If they cannot collect their favourite water from their favourite source, Latvians simply buy their favourite bottled water.
The term ‘mineral water’ in Latvia means really salty water. Many Latvians love to drink it on everyday basis, but the rest of Latvians drink it for healing purposes when they have an upset stomach.
44. Compotes and kisselsare popular cold drinks in Latvia.
Kompotis a non-alcoholic clear juice obtained by cooking fruit in a large volume of water, likestrawberries,apricots,peaches,apples, rhubarb,gooseberries, orsour cherries.
Kisselis a viscous fruit dish, popular as a dessert. It consists of sweetened juice, thickened witharrowroot, cornstarchorpotato starch, and sometimesred wineor fresh ordried fruitsare added
46. Riga BlackBalsam
is a traditionalLatvianherballiqueurmade with many different natural ingredients mixed in pure vodka, giving a 45%abv(90 proof) drink. It can be had as it is,on the rocksor mixed withschnapps,akvavit, orvodka, or warm, in tea, coffee or black currant juice, or mixed withsoda wateror asoft drink, or in any variety of cocktails. It is also occasionally enjoyed as a topping on ice-cream. The drink itself is black and very bitter, but with a distinct sweetness
