A Baltic Kitchen Still Waiting for a Grid

Latvia has never hosted a Grand Prix or sent a driver to the start, but its seasonal Baltic cooking of rye, dairy and smoked fish deserves a race weekend.

Latvia has yet to play a part on track in the World Championship. No Grand Prix has been held there, no Latvian team appears in our records, and no Latvian driver has started a championship race. Our records do hold one name linked to the country, Viktors Tjagunenko, though with no race entries against it, so the grid is still keeping a place warm for its first Latvian.

That leaves the table, and Latvia sets a good one. Its cooking grew from peasant traditions along the Baltic's eastern coast and follows the calendar closely, each season bringing its own produce and dishes. The staples are pork and potatoes, cabbage and beets, peas, and grains from rye and wheat to oats and buckwheat, while fish, smoked hot or cold, is eaten especially by the sea. Seasoning is restrained, with caraway, black pepper and allspice, and dill is the favorite herb.

Dark rye bread is a national staple, made with caraway, malt and a coarse rye flour and baked, by tradition, in an oven fired with wood. Dairy is everywhere: cottage cheese with sour cream and herbs at breakfast, kefir with hot meals, and a fresh caraway cheese made for the Midsummer festival of Jāņi. Lunch is the main meal, and soups made with broth or kefir are common. The neighbors have left their mark too, with dishes from Slavic, Germanic and Nordic kitchens now firmly part of everyday eating.

For a race weekend in summer, a bowl of cold borscht and a tray of bacon buns make a very Latvian spread.

A taste of Latvia

• Pelēkie zirņi ar speķi, Grey peas with smoked bacon and onion
• Aukstā zupa, Cold pink beet and kefir soup
• Ķiploku grauzdiņi, Fried garlic rye bread sticks with dip
• Speķrauši, Little bacon and onion buns
• Kartupeļi ar kaņepju sviestu, New potatoes with toasted hemp seed butter
• Sklandrausis, Rye tarts with potato and sweet carrot
• Balzams ar karstu upeņu sulu, Hot blackcurrant with Latvian black herbal balsam
• Dzērveņu ķīselis, Silky thickened cranberry drink
• Rupjmaizes kārtojums, Rye bread, cream and cranberry trifle

Circuits

Drivers

• viktors tjagunenko