Azerbaijani vs Lithuanian food & cuisine

Traditional dishes aim for comfort and harmony, not contrast. Cepelinai, kugelis, and potato pancakes are smooth and hearty, enriched with sour cream, bacon, creamy mushroom sauces. Flavors are built through texture, which is usually soft and silky: potatoes, tender pork, and rich dairy. Seasoning stays simple – salt, pepper, dill, caraway, onion, and garlic.

Lithuanian food culture centers on home cooking. Eating out has never been central, shaped by rural traditions and Soviet times when restaurants were scarce. Even today, most people still value warm, homemade meals the most.

The national dish, plov, has at least 40 documented recipes and many more variations. It consists of three elements served together: rice, gara (fried meat, dried fruits, eggs, or fish), and aromatic herbs. The most elaborate version is shah plov, wrapped in baked flatbread and served at weddings and New Year’s. Sour drinks typically accompany plov, including ayran, black tea with lemon, or verjuice.

Rye once fed everyone, while wheat was a luxury. Now, winter wheat is Lithuania’s main cereal crop, supplying flour for bread, pastries, and pasta.

Kepta duona, fried rye bread with garlic and a cheese or mayonnaise dip, is a beloved pub snack. Various pancakes (blynai) are everyday fare — made from curd, yeast, wheat flour, sometimes stuffed with cheese, meat, or ham, and served with sour cream, jam, or berries.

Barley, oats, buckwheat, and millet are also staples. Buckwheat (grikiai) in particular has seen a resurgence for its health benefits; it’s eaten as a side dish or even as a replacement for rice or potatoes. Buckwheat porridge flavored with butter is still a daily breakfast in many families today.

Cucumbers, cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and fruits such as plums and quince pickles, called turshu, are widely served as appetizers and sides. Vegetables are also grilled or pan-fried on their own: eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms are charred and served as sides. Veggies also appear in gentle braises with herbs and mild sour notes. Greens and herbs fill stuffed flatbreads, often served with yogurt. Raw vegetables are equally important and present at most meals.

During the Soviet period, rice cultivation declined, and potatoes became more common. Their consumption is quite high, but simple, since potatoes were adopted relatively late, only a few traditional dishes focus on them.

Peaches, apricots, figs, plums, cherries, and citrus are used in savory dishes and desserts. Pomegranates are especially valued and made into narsharab, a distinctive local sour sauce. Fruit preserves, called murabba, traditionally accompany tea.

Traditional produce reflects the country’s short growing season, unlike in southern cuisines, vegetables in Lithuania play a supporting role for meats, grains, or potatoes. Spring brings fresh greens, radishes, and sorrel for salads with sour cream and dill. Summer overflows with cucumbers, tomatoes, and new potatoes; autumn shifts to carrots, beets, onions, and cabbage, which are also widely pickled and fermented.

Foraging is part of Lithuanian life. Families collect mushrooms every autumn and cook chanterelles with onions, sour cream, and dill; save porcini and boletes for sauces, or Christmas Eve dumplings. Mushrooms are dried, salted, or pickled, but nothing beats fresh porcini sautéed with butter and bacon.

Pulses once mattered more, especially peas and broad beans, eaten boiled with bacon crisps or mashed during fasting or by poorer families. Lentils and chickpeas are modern additions.

In Lithuania, fruit means apples for most people. Families still store them for winter and use them in pies or pancakes. Even now, when supermarkets offer bananas and citrus year-round, apples remain the default choice. Berries and stone fruits – strawberries, cherries, plums, cranberries – are abundant in summer, often turned into jams, compotes, and pickles for the colder months. Lithuanians still take pride in their homegrown, handmade produce.

In recent decades, beef consumption has increased in cities. Pork remains rare due to Islamic traditions, unlike in Georgia and Armenia. Coastal regions use more poultry and fish, and although game exists in traditional cuisine, it is less prominent than in Georgia.

Govurma is the local preserved meat. Large lamb pieces are dried briefly, then salted, stewed, and fried before being sealed in ceramic jars under melted butter or mutton fat. After several weeks, the meat is ready to eat. This preserved meat is still used today, including in govurma shorbas, a lamb stew with beans and potatoes.

Nothing says Lithuanian summer like šašlykai, marinated grilled meat skewers. Large chunks of meat are marinated with onions, salt, pepper, and a touch of vinegar, kefir, or mayonnaise before grilling. Served with cucumbers, tomatoes, and tomato sauce, šašlykai are a true summer favorite.

Cattle were traditionally kept for milk or farm work, so beef is smaller; it appears in soups, stews, and steaks (though this is a very modern trend). It’s more common now but still carries a sense of occasion.

Chicken and duck are well-established in modern cooking. Chicken goes into soups, cutlets, or Sunday roasts.  Duck is more of a celebratory bird, roasted with apples or berries for Christmas or Easter.

Venison, wild boar, and hare once marked noble feasts. Today, they’re seasonal, often found in  high-end restaurants, focusing on historical noble cuisine. Game meats are usually paired with mushrooms or berry sauces that highlight their earthy flavor.

Kutum, a Caspian whitefish, remains highly respected, while carp from rivers and inland waters is common. Smaller fish kilka and sprat are more affordable and widely eaten. Fish is often grilled, including kebabs, seasoned simply and served with herbs or sour elements. Baking and pan-frying are also common, finished with pomegranate juice, sour plum paste, or fresh herbs. A distinctive dish is fish lavangi, baked after being stuffed with walnuts, onions, and herbs.

Smoked fish, especially eel, perch, catfish, and mackerel, are also favorites. They’re not eaten daily but often enjoyed at fairs or coastal markets, where stalls selling freshly smoked fish draw eager locals.

True marine seafood wasn’t part of traditional cooking, but modern tastes are changing. Imported shrimp, mussels, and octopus are appearing in restaurants. The one native “seafood” Lithuanians have is actually a freshwater crayfish — caught in summer lakes, then boiled with dill and served as a big treat.

*FAO per-capita data may overstate actual fish consumption in Lithuania because of the country’s large seafood processing industry, notably Vičiūnai Group, which exports much of its output.

Cheese is less common than in other Caucasian cuisines, but the varieties are distinctive. Motal pendiri, made from unpasteurized sheep or goat milk, is curdled with rennet, salted, and packed into a sheepskin sack, sometimes with the fleece intact. It is aged in cool, damp conditions, producing a sharply tangy, sour cheese.

Milk, kefir, and buttermilk remain everyday staples. Kefir, a thick fermented milk drink, and buttermilk often accompany boiled potatoes. Lithuanian butter and cream are famously rich. Sour cream is everywhere — served with soups, salads, dumplings, potato dishes, and even herring.

Curd cheese (varškė, baltas sūris) is typically flavored with caraway and paired with honey. The white curd cheese Lietuviškas varškės sūris holds EU PGI protection. And for a sweet touch, try sūrelis, its a chilled bar of sweetened curd cheese, flavored with vanilla, cocoa, or jam, and coated in chocolate.

Šimtalapis (hundred-layer cake), of Tatar origin, is now a cherished Lithuanian dessert. It’s made from many thin layers of buttery dough filled with poppy seeds, sugar, and sometimes raisins. Each layer is brushed with butter before baking, giving it a flaky, rich texture similar to a dense croissant.

Kūčiukai are uniquely Lithuanian. These tiny baked dough pieces of flour, poppy seeds, yeast, butter, and milk are crisp on the outside and slightly chewy inside. During Christmas Eve (Kūčios), they’re soaked in poppy milk, a mildly sweet, nutty drink.