The beautiful Baltic country of Latvia is small in territory, but contains a huge number of sights and natural beauties. On the same territory, charming authentic villages and ancient baroque castles, Gothic cathedrals and wooden Orthodox churches harmoniously coexist. Each of the Latvian cities has places that are attractive to tourists - from the narrow streets of Riga to the famous beaches of Jurmala. As in all Nordic countries, Latvia has a wonderful ecology, beautiful rivers, lakes and forests.
Event tourism is attractive: festivals of organ music, sand sculptures, musical events in Jurmala. In gastronomic tourism, the emphasis is on the sustainability of products produced in the country. So what to try in Latvia?
Food in Latvia
Latvian cuisine is characterized by three basic concepts - simple, hearty and tasty. Today, it is equally important that this kitchen is environmentally friendly. It has been forming for centuries, absorbing the features of the cuisines of neighboring countries - Lithuanian and Estonian, German and Scandinavian, and even Belarusian. The Latvian cuisine is based on agricultural and livestock products. As well as gifts from the Baltic Sea, rivers and lakes of Latvia.
Five of the best and most distinctive products of the national cuisine became the owners of the European label “Guarantee of product tradition”: Janov cheese, Tsarnikovskaya lamprey, gray peas, sklandrausis pie and salted rye bread.
Top 10 Latvian dishes
Rye bread
Rye bread
It is difficult to call bread a separate dish. But in Latvia it is worth forgetting about all its other types. Because this one is unique, and after receiving the guarantee mark for traditional products, it can only be baked in this country, according to ancient recipes. The older generation, perhaps, remembers bread called "Rizhsky" on the counters of the USSR. Now it can be tasted only in Latvia. Bread is prepared for at least a day. And it is baked according to the recipe - not in molds, but on special hot stones. The result is a “signature” crust that retains the flavor. Such bread can be stored in the refrigerator for almost six months, and does not lose either freshness or useful properties. But it is more pleasant to eat it fresh.
Unusual soups
Soups are considered an obligatory dish on the Latvian table, like porridge. They are characterized by a combination of incompatible products. Not everyone will dare to taste milk soup with herring, but Latvians have this favorite dish. Potatoes, onions and green onions are added there. The beer soup contains cottage cheese, boiled eggs, caraway seeds, butter and rye croutons. All this is filled with sour cream.
There are cold soups: beetroot, rhubarb, sorrel, buttermilk barley, bread soup with dried fruits. And how not to try the sweet blueberry soup with dumplings! Lemon is added for flavor.
Janov cheese
Janov cheese
Jan's Day, one of the funniest national holidays in Latvia, cannot be imagined without this cheese, of course, with beer. Refers to soft cheeses, in the Adyghe or feta format, but with a special taste - due to the method of preparation and components. The country is considered the ancestor of all local cheeses, its recipe dates back to ancient times, when butter was not even invented yet. Modern cuisine provides for butter, but otherwise the age-old traditions of cooking are observed - with the obligatory caraway seeds, eggs, cottage cheese and cow's milk. Finished cheese heads are wrapped in oak or maple leaves, then in clean pieces of linen cloth. After this way of storage, loose yellowish pieces of cheese smell of summer and sun.
Until now, every housewife prepares her own cheese for the holiday. You can taste it in restaurants, buy it in stores, but it is more interesting to buy it from peasant merchants.
Carnikava lamprey
Not just a delicacy, in every sense a cult product. It is named after the fishermen village of Carnikava on the banks of the famous Gauja River. Fishing here originated more than three centuries ago, already in the second half of the 19th century, a fish hatchery and a fish factory were organized here.
Fashionable event tourism attracts many guests to Carnikava - on Lamprey Day. This is a whole action, entertaining and entertaining, with contests, dances and fireworks. The main heroine of the holiday can be tasted fried, smoked, stewed, pickled and in jelly. The most traditional ancient dish is this fish grilled over charcoal. Lamprey looks strange: without fins, bones and scales, and even serpentine. But this fatty fish since the time of Catherine II is considered a delicacy, and deservedly so.
Gray peas
The uniqueness of the dish is that the varieties of this pea are selected and grown only in Latvia. Despite the non-holiday name, gray peas are one of the main decorations on the Christmas table. Latvians regard pea grains as a symbol of tears. Therefore, they try to eat as much as possible so that they cry less the next year. Eating a lot is not difficult - delicious. Peas boiled until soft are stewed with bacon, fried with onions. The dish is very simple and delicious and worth trying. For those who avoid heavy food, prudent Latvians serve gray peas with a glass of kefir.
Sklandrausis
Sklandrausis
Another indispensable dish on the Latvian Christmas table. This pie, necessarily made from rye dough with baked lard, also belongs to old dishes. They began to bake it in the 17th century, when potatoes were brought to the country. Previously, this cake symbolized the sun. Hence its open shape and bright carrot and potato filling. The pie has another, also common name - Skland gingerbread. In fact, it least of all resembles a gingerbread. Lush sides, golden filling sprinkled with cinnamon - all this is more like a cheesecake. The pie is not worth trying because it bears the European mark. It's just delicious.
Blood pancakes
A very ancient dish, as well as delicate and tasty, despite the frightening name. The dough for pancakes is not made with milk, but with carefully strained blood - pork or deer. It is diluted to the consistency of low-fat milk, and then - according to the recipe for a regular pancake dough. Be sure to try. With butter, lingonberries or jam, it's delicious. In addition, useful: trace elements in these pancakes contribute to the normal functioning of the heart and blood vessels.
Seafood
And this is not only smoked herring, which is known under the name of the famous Latvian sprats. Everything that the Baltic Sea gives is transformed into delicious casseroles - cod, herring, etc. Latvians also love fish stewed in milk with onions and carrots. Parsley and other aromatic herbs are added to it, served with a creamy sauce.
Common herring is cooked with onion sauce or grilled over charcoal. It turns out to be a delicacy. Skillful Latvian chefs even cook flounder on a wire rack so that a simple dish is eaten as a culinary delight. It is also worth trying the smelt in batter.
Piparkukas
Piparkukas
These crispy cookies are also an attribute of the Christmas and New Years. Translated, its name means cookies with peppers or cookies with spices. Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom and allspice are added to it heartily. They add a spicy flavor.
Cookies have been common throughout Northern Europe since the 13th century. The recipes have improved: honey, nuts, caraway seeds, vanilla, lemon or orange zest are added to the dough - whoever likes what. Before the holidays, Latvian shops sell spicy dough for baking piparkukas and the cookies themselves in the form of various figures. Glazed angels, stars, houses create an indescribable Christmas atmosphere.
Vecriga
The name of the famous cake is translated as Old Riga. There is no person who has visited Riga and has not tasted the most delicate confectionery with indispensable coffee. It has been a symbol of the Latvian capital for a very long time. Served in almost all coffee houses. Outwardly they look like a common shu cake. The filling is cottage cheese with cream and vanilla. Everything is prepared from the freshest ingredients, without the slightest deviation from the recipe. The result is an exquisite indescribable dish that can only be tasted in old Riga.
