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Amanda, a Canadian married to a Canadian-Latvian, values passing culture on to her daughter, including her husband’s heritage. She had always wanted to try making pīrāgi, and has finally begun the journey of learning and perfecting the recipe. After two unsuccessful, though still delicious, attempts, Amanda turned to the Facebook group “Latvian Favorite Foods,” asking for help, wondering what she was doing wrong, and looking for advice.
Inga shares her many years of experience in baking piparkūkas and pīrāgi. She believes that there are no secrets to making pīrāgi, people shouldn’t be afraid to give it a try, because it’s really not that difficult. However, when it comes to piparkūkas, the secret ingredient, according to Inga, is faith in the dough!
For Ilze, piparkūkas has always been a part of Christmas. Now, living in Italy, she organizes piparkūku camps that bring together other Latvians living in Italy, as well as participants from Luxembourg and Germany. For three days they bake, cook food, eat, dance, sing, and simply enjoy being together. In 2023, Ilze received the “Zelta pūka” award for her piparkūka camp.
Festive table NOVEMBER 2025 The House Smells of Smoked Meats and Rasols for Days Afterwards! (Laila Rudzone) Germany On the holiday table at home, there’s always rosolīts (potato salad). Every year we agree that this time we’ll make a bit less of it, but somehow it always ends up being a big bowl — and it’s always eaten to the last bite. Sometimes we roast chicken or carp...
"So it has happened that I’ve been living in Germany for some time now. Homemade food carries a kind of genetic memory — of grandma’s pancakes or dad’s pike patties, those familiar childhood tastes. Even the stewed sauerkraut on the Christmas table reminds me of the cabbage fermenting days at grandma’s countryside home. In autumn, when the big heads of cabbage were harvested from the field, they were...
"My grandma, Eunise, pickles vegetables on the regular. Cucumber, carrots and cauliflower. She adds onion and garlic and her secret ingredient are cloves. She cooks them in water, vinegar and salt (two cups of vinegar for four large cucumbers) until the cucumber loses its green hues and then stores it in jars in the fridge. My grandparents eat pickled vegetables everyday at lunchtime. As kids, me and my...
I am not a child of exile, but it so happened that I have been living in Canada for seven years now. Latvia has always been and remains dear and close to my heart. I am proud to have been born in Latvia. This square was created with the idea of showing what I truly miss here when thinking about Latvia. It’s the fragrant forests and fields, the...
My family left Latvia in 1944, and settled in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, in 1950 and I was born here. At this pre-Christmas time of year I think back, with nostalgia, to the once-a-year feast of Latvian specialties of my childhood. My brother and I had birthdays either side of Christmas Day, so there was always a huge family and friends party at our house then. The anticipation and...
…In our home, 2–3 days beforehand we were already preparing all kinds of dishes. Sometimes, at our house, we ate three times: everyone gathered for dinner around six o’clock and ate the hot meal; then afterwards, the men went off to play cards, the women washed the dishes, and then there was the coffee table; and around two or three in the morning, my mother set out the...
Ingrīda Hawke describes the Latvian canapes she prepares for festive tables in Melbourne, Australia: classic radish canapes with cottage cheese, salmon with a slice of lemon, ham with mustard …
Dace Gulbe and Inta Grunde have been preparing and setting festive tables for Latvians on the East Coast of the United States for about 20 years with Amber catering company.They talk about the most popular foods they make (pīrāgi!), about their cooking process, and also share their experience of how it was recently when the President visited Priedaine and they prepared the food for the event.
This gallery features photographs of festive tables from Latvian communities in different countries and periods.