'À la Lituanienne': in search of a Lithuanian gastronomic identity

ENThe nationality of food is related to specific cultural ideas and the relationships between these ideas and nationality concepts. The first mentions of a “national gastronomy” in the region are from the time of the Renaissance and Reformation (16th century). At this time, Lithuanian cuisine is described as more ordinary, less cultured, less sophisticated, more wild, natural, and, at the same time, healthier. The idea of the simplicity of Lithuanian cuisine developed with the focus on ethnographic Lithuanian cuisine of the Romantic period (19th century). Another idea of romantic gastronomic Lithuanianness was the use of natural ingredients in cuisine. Wild plants and hunting cuisine drove this trend. At the end of the 19th century, the idea of gastronomic Lithuanianness, inspired by Romanticism, had waned. The inclusion of “Lithuanian” in the name of a dish indicated exoticism (a brand in a purely technical sense). A narrower, ethnolinguistic narrative of Lithuanian culture emerged at the end of the 19th century. The gastronomic identity of this period marked the transformation of the existing multicultural gastronomic tradition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) and its layers (mostly French), an adaptation to the intelligentsia’s tastes, and the evolvement of Lithuanian and ethnographic cuisine. After the Second World War, the idea of ethnolinguistic Lithuanianness was transformed by the principles of Soviet ideology, creating a phenomenon that maintained an external (pseudo) national form of culture acceptable to the Soviet system. During the Soviet era, the Lithuanian gastronomic identity was reduced to the dishes of poor peasant ethnographic cuisine (primarily potato-based dishes).The restoration of Lithuania’s independence at the end of the 20th century has created new opportunities for constructing a gastronomic culture and gastronomic identities. On the one hand, Lithuania is experiencing global gastronomic trends. On the other hand, ideas of historical identity are reviewed, reconstructed, and implemented. Notably, that narrow, ethnolinguistic and post-soviet gastronomic identity of poor peasant cuisine is also popular in contemporary Lithuania. Keywords: history of Lithuanian gastronomy; gastronomic identity; Renaissance; Romanticism; nationalism; Soviet era. [From the publication]