Talk:Lithuanian cuisine

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This page was voted on for deletion at Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Lithuanian cuisine. dbenbenn | talk 15:37, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Regional cuisine 2 Pictures 3 Pepper scarce ? 4 Dark bread pudding ? 5 Pigs' ears ? 6 nameday vs birthday ? 7 Cheese soup 8 Candies 9 Bigos 10 Poultry

[edit] Regional cuisine

It would be interesting to have it explained which dishes are specific to individual regions of Lithuania. --Lysy^talk 19:07, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree...but my personal experience has been that the food is similar thruout. That could be due to 1) my relatives are not very diverse (altho my mother was from Kretinga); 2) foods served to guests might be similar, a sort of "haute cuisine" as opposed to everyday food; 3) the recipes for foods served at restaurants might be converging, as a result of more local and international travel. I do have a few cookbooks, one is entitled "Zemaiciu Valgai" and another in English, "Lithuanian Cookery" - that last one seems to have a heavy German influence, judging by the frequent usage of the imperative "should". In any event, I need to leave this one alone for now... Novickas 20:54, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Maybe some obscure ideas then, like: "best cucumbers are from Kedainiai" or "best fish is from Nemunas Delta" etc. ? Not exactly what I meant of course. Lithuania is a small country but there are still very visible differences between the regions and there should be some traditional differences in food as well ... or am I dreaming ? --Lysy^talk 21:45, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pictures

It would be good to have the article illustrated with images of few most typical dishes. --Lysy^talk 19:15, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Good food photography is hard to come by! For whatever reasons, amateur photographers tend to make food look bad. My sister likes to tell stories of food photography at the various US newspapers where she has worked..Apparently one must spray the food with silicone or some other petroleum-based product, and it must be lit from specially-designated angles, and so forth. Novickas 20:54, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pepper scarce ?

Can someone confirm it that pepper was scarce during Soviet occupation ? --Lysy^talk 19:30, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Alas, statistics on the availability of food commodities during the Soviet Era are also hard to come by, and may not ever be available. I know that Cuban sugar and good Cuban cigars were always easily obtained (this could maybe be referenced); the pepper and vanilla shortages are based on personal information, so they could be deleted. Novickas 20:54, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dark bread pudding ?

Is dark bread pudding a traditional Lithuanian desert or rather a modern invention ? (or is it Latvian ?) --Lysy^talk 19:56, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

I've found it in two books with Lithuanian recipes (one pre-war and one modern, although the recipes are different). --Lysy^talk 18:41, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, how about putting it in? Maybe it would be more descriptive to have it called "rye bread pudding". Rye bread crumbs are sometimes used to make torte layers too. Surprisingly delicious with mocha filling. Always startled my friends until they tried it. Am trying to figure out the workings of Wikipedia recipes, it would be nice to link to some. Novickas 18:50, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I'd prefer to have at least one Lithuanian editor to confirm it. It is in the cook books and I've eaten it in Lithuania, but is it common ? These cookbooks (especially the pre-war one) have hundreds of strangest recipes that I'd not date to present as "typical Lithuanian dish", even if very tasty or original. --Lysy^talk 21:21, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Even the "strangest" of recipes, if it has a source, could be included. Now I'm thinking about adding a section about "haute cuisine", "everyday food", and "strange foods" - it would include a discussion of how natives and visitors perceive a national cuisine. There's often something horrifying about the things foreigners eat. Novickas 21:51, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pigs' ears ?

What about smoked pigs' ears ? --Lysy^talk 20:15, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] nameday vs birthday ?

Is it really that traditionally nameday was celebrated in Lithuania rather than birthday ? I thought it was a "communist tradition" ? --Lysy^talk 20:17, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Definitely so. Birthdays were celebrated more often after 1950 as names were adopted from pre-Catholic traditions: Mantas, Audrius, and so forth, but observant Catholics still celebrate namedays. This is another item that is hard to back up with references, so again, take it out if you wish. Novickas 20:54, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

No, I just wanted to know if this was firm. Thanks. --Lysy^talk 21:39, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cheese soup

What about the cheese soup ? --Lysy^talk 19:12, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

I looked in my cookbooks, can't find a cheese soup. As for the cepelinai, perhaps they could never look great in a picture. Maybe you could Photoshop some parsley on the top? But yes, many people love them. Others refer to them as potatoes raised to the 3rd power. Émigrés was correct.Novickas 21:48, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

At least would prefer to have the cepelinai shape demonstrated in the photo ... :-( --Lysy^talk 22:00, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, so the viewer can see why they're called zeppelins! Novickas 23:18, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Candies

I'd like to ask for a comment on this sentence: "Lithuanian candy was usually a chocolate bar or box of assorted chocolates, sometimes with fruit or berry flavoring, than a Western candy bar with caramel, fudge, or nougat.". It looks a bit suspicious to me. What times does this refer to ? How old is "a Western candy bar" idea, by the way ? --Lysy^talk 18:45, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Um, yeah, I'm trying to respect the original authors by not changing everything at once.."tradition" could certainly be taken out, but the current Lithuanian chocolate candies fit the description. In re Western candy bars - the caramel and nougat date from the early 20th century with the introduction of the Baby Ruth candy bar. Novickas 19:07, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I was wondering whether this was not part of a more general European chocolates vs U.S. candy bars story ? How specific is this to Lithuania ? As for "tradition" I'd expect that traditional Lithuanian sweets were cakes rather than chocolates. --Lysy^talk 21:18, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

European vs. American chocolates is IMHO an applicable distinction. But can it be documented?! If not let's take it out, I say! The doumentation will come someday. The history of food is growing as an academic field; it goes along with the newer concentration on the lives of everyday people- that could be verified. I will change the entry soon. Novickas 21:44, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bigos

I think I've asked this before, but now that I see sauerkraut removed from "bigos" in the article, I'm confused. Is it possible to have a Lithuanian bigos without sauerkraut ? --Lysy^talk 21:56, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Please do as you wish with this entry. Novickas 00:21, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't know, I'm only asking. Maybe Lithuanian bigos is different than Polish. I'd rather wait for a third opinion before touching this. --Lysy^talk 20:11, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Good - we don't want to appear bigo-ted about this issue. Novickas 20:43, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Poultry

Somehow i do miss a section about poultry in this article. I know poultry was quite popular in recent times, and extraordinary popular in historical times. --Lokyz 22:40, 4 January 2007 (UTC)