There is much to be said about Lithuanians hospitality. But at a certain point of eating so much sausage and chicken and meat and potatoes, it gets to be a little much. And as for the hostesses…well, they all but force feed you in the most loving way anything they can. Its kind of funny. :)

The food is wonderful, and there is so much of it. The Lithuanian specialties that I kept seeing and coming across are cold red beat soup (that was not red - it was actually hot pink). Everywhere you go there is herring and sauerkraut (I’m sorry, I just couldn’t do this one!). And as soon as I waked in the door of my friends family (all of the ones we went to) there was piles of sausages and potatoes.

I am a very picky eater, but I did actually really enjoy some of the traditional Lithuanian dishes. Like the dumplings. They had breaded outsides (I think!) and some kind of meat inside and were very good.

I also had Lithuanian vodka (all vodka tastes the same to me) and brandy. That was sooo strong! Too much for me! I was also taught how to drink the Lithuanian vodka the “Old Soviet Way”. Hehehe. My friends dad was insisting that we do shots with him and poured our glasses for us. Now I know what a shot is and this was like four times more. It was crazy. He downed it, and my friend and I sipped our “shots” because there was no way I could do that! I told the host that I was impressed that he could drink that in that way, and he replied “Its the old soviet way!” with a big grin on his face.

In addition to my hostesses (I stayed at my friends family’s houses, two different ones) feeding me till I could roll out the door, the first thing in the morning they were ready with coffee, tea, juice or anything you wanted. They were so ready to make me happy with anything I wanted (at least it seemed like it).

My friend tells me that this is just the way of the people here. With the feeding the guests and jumping around to try and do something to make me happier - even when I was already happy. They were extremely hospitable people and very warm and welcoming to their homes.

My very favorite Lithuanian treat was a special cake called Sakotis. The word Sakotis means “branched” because it looks like it has a bunch of branches from the bottom to the top. It was sweet and I really enjoyed it.

Lithuania has a very rich culture of food for anyone who would ever want to travel there, don’t miss it!

For more on my trip to Lithuania check out:

• Lithuania - The Introduction
• Lithuania - Trakai Island Castle
• Lithuania - Kaunas