Lithuanian vs Lebanese 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.

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.

Rice pairs with meat, poultry, or lentils,  fills vegetables and grape leaves, and anchors stews. Vermicelli rice pilafs are everyday staples. All other grains, although they may have had some importance historically, play a minor role today.

Lebanon is part of the Fertile Crescent, a region where lentils and chickpeas likely originated, so they are very important both historically and in current cuisine as staple, affordable sources of nutrition. Lentils, chickpeas, and beans are widely consumed in the form of mujaddarah (lentil and rice pilaf), hummus (chickpea dip), and balila (boiled chickpeas).

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.

No Lebanese table is complete without pickles. Everything from turnips to wild cucumbers can find a way into brine. Pickles add a tangy kick to wraps and pair well with flatbreads or falafel.

Fruits are often consumed in their fresh form, towards the end of the meal. Other than that, smoothies and juices are prevalent. Dried figs, apricots, dates, and raisins are often paired with nuts for a snack.

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.

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.

In Beirut and the coastal towns, the tradition is to grill or fry the daily catch – fishes like red mullet, sea bream, or sardines – simply dressed with olive oil, lemon, and herbs. You’ll also see seafood mezze: fried calamari, shrimp sautéed in garlic and lemon, or octopus salads. A classic is sayadieh, a fragrant fish-and-rice dish cooked with caramelized onions and warm spices, finished with pine nuts, samke harra, a whole baked fish covered with a sauce of tahini, lemon juice, garlic, chili or hot pepper, and fish kibbeh.

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.

Milk is rare in its raw form, but cultured milk products are trendy. Laban, a yogurt made from fermented milk from cows, sheep, goats, or a combination, is a staple, often accompanied by strained yogurt labneh. Ayran, a refreshing yogurt drink diluted with water, is also a popular beverage.

Kishk, jameed, or yogurt stone, is a traditional Eastern Mediterranean method for preserving milk. Milk or yogurt is mixed with bulgur, then naturally fermented and dried. It can later give a tangy kick when grated on salad, blended into soups, or used as a seasoning.

Cheese is also a part of dairy products. Most Lebanese cheeses feature sheep or goat milk, either exclusively or in combination with cow’s milk, and are brined, which means they’re soaked in salty water after the cheese is formed. Halloumi and akkawi are examples of local brined cheeses. Shanklish is another type of fermented cheese rolled in a mixture of spices, such as Aleppo pepper or thyme.

Clarified butter (samneh) and rendered lamb fat (awarma) were important animal fats for cooking and preservation, especially in mountain villages. Today, however, olive oil is the backbone fat in Lebanese kitchens, with vegetable oils also common.

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.

Lebanese desserts blend fragrance, texture, and tradition. One of the first things you notice is the aroma of rose water, orange blossom water, and sometimes mastic. Another feature is the balance between nuts, pastry, and syrup. Almonds, pistachios, and walnuts are layered between thin sheets of phyllo or folded into semolina-based sweets. Instead of heavy frostings or creams, the desserts are finished with a sugar syrup known as ater.

Lebanese sweets are also often made in small, shareable portions, good for pairing with coffee or tea. Many of these desserts are tied to religious and seasonal celebrations.