Lithuanian Šaltibarščiai (Cold Beet Soup) (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of cold beet soup in Lithuania? ›

It is believed that cold beetroot soup has been started to be eaten in Lithuania when there was no time to cook food. Liquid cold beetroot soup was made for mowers: vegetables - for vitamins, sour milk - to cool down, and water for thirst.

Šaltibarščiai is a Lithuanian cold soup made from beetroots, kefir and milk, and served with boiled potatoes. This is a vegan version of the pink soup, made with naturally fermented soy yoghurt and oat milk.

It's pronounced shalt-eh-barsh-chay and is incredibly popular in Lithuania especially on hot summer days as it is served cold, usually with a side of baby potatoes.

Cold beet soup is a culinary staple in Latvia and Lithuania and across Eastern Europe. This year, Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, hosted its “Pink Soup Festival” celebrating the dish. But the city's tourism agency also started a public beef with Latvia, claiming that the Lithuanian version of the soup is better.

Beets are loaded with nutrients such as Folate, Manganese, and Copper. They have also been found to help lower blood pressure, while being very low in calories. This soup is a great vehicle to adding more beets into your life!

Put simply, barszcz is a Polish name for a beetroot soup that is a shared staple in the whole of the Eastern Europe and the word borscht is an anglicised version of the Yiddish word for it. There are many many versions of this bright pink soup as it's eaten throughout the year.

Šaltibarščiai (pronounced “shull-tee-barsh-chay”) is a traditional cold soup made with beetroot, giving it a pink color. Pink soup is a big business in Lithuania, with pink soup souvenirs available for sale at gift shops—and now it's central to a new tourism campaign. Read more: #linkinbio.

Ukraine

Borscht / Origin

Cepelinai ( lit. Tooltip literal translation "zeppelins"; singular: cepelinas) or didžkukuliai are potato dumplings made from grated and riced potatoes and stuffed with ground meat, dry curd cheese or mushrooms. It has been described as a national dish of Lithuania, and is typically served as a main dish.

Šaltibarščiai – Instagram-worthy cold beetroot soup

And it shares the crown with cepelinai (more on that in a minute) as the most popular of Lithuanian dishes. Its highly Instagrammable, party pink colour comes from dropping beets among their cool friends kefir, cucumbers, sour cream and dill.

Why are Lithuanian and Latvian so different? ›

The differences between Lithuanian and Latvian can be summarized in very broad terms by saying that Lithuanian is far more archaic than Latvian and that modern written Lithuanian could in many instances serve as a “protolanguage” for it.

According to Lithuanians, the dish originated in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which existed until 1795 and included swaths of territory in present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. However, Poland and Belarus are among those who contest its heritage. Pink soup has also become a star on social media.

Although considered an Indian soup, Mulligatawny Mughlai soup is part Indian and part British. This soup got invented during colonial rule when the British kept requesting the soup as the first course. Originally this soup was just a thin sauce. But it bulks with vegetables and meat to suit British taste over time.

I think the reason borscht has cemented itself as a national treasure in Ukraine is precisely because it is so multifaceted and readily adaptable. It has evolved over the centuries and made its way into every kitchen in the country without losing its essence and its roots.