Our house smells like Latvia (Līga Druka-Smalka)

Līga is from Latvia. Before moving to the United Kingdom, she lived in Aizkraukle, a town that is still her second home. Now she lives in Wales, in Cardiff, yet Latvia is always in her heart.

Līga’s childhood memories from the 1970s and 1980s are rich, warm, and filled with fragrance. It was a time when almost everything was homemade, and the kitchen was the heart of the home. A special place in her memories belongs to dishes made from cottage cheese — baked cottage cheese casseroles, cottage cheese sandwiches, pancakes, cottage cheese creams, and homemade cakes. Anything made from cottage cheese is still at the top of her favorites.

In her childhood, sweet dishes were prepared for her by Grandma Teodora, her grandmother Ausma — a graduate of the Kaucminde Home Economics Seminary — her mother Aira, and her godmother Vizma. These were the kitchens where Līga often spent time, watching, learning, and experiencing the true taste of home. The one who spoiled her the most was Grandma Ausma. The dishes she prepared were special — buberts (a semolina dessert), creams with cranberry sauce (still Līga’s number one), floating islands with vanilla sauce, homemade cakes, fruit and berry sheet cakes, buns, sweet dumpling soups, kissel with milk, butter pastry cookies, rye bread soup with whipped cream, layered rye bread dessert, and even pigarica.

From her grandmother, she also remembers the secret to cooking semolina porridge — “zero, zero, eight” — a special stirring motion with a wooden spoon to keep the porridge from burning. Her grandmother passed away when Līga was twelve years old, but her lessons and the memories of those flavors live on.

Līga learned to prepare sweet dishes herself at a conscious age, thanks to her mother, grandmother, and godmother. Today, when she wants to remember her childhood and her beloved family members, she cooks those very same dishes — cottage cheese sandwiches or baked cottage cheese with cranberry sauce, layered rye bread dessert, or rye bread soup.

Living in Wales, Līga carefully makes sure that the true taste of Latvia is never missing from her home. In her luggage from Latvia to Cardiff, there is always Ķelmēni rye bread and Liepkalni sweet-and-sour bread, homemade dried meats and smoked fish, fresh caraway cheese made by her countryside relative who still keeps two cows, Latvian-grown garlic, honey from local beekeepers, and game meat products. She also brings rye breadcrumbs from Lāči and Liepkalni, and every year wild cranberries are stored in her freezer. Līga prefers to shop from small Latvian producers, as she believes that the true taste can still only be found with them.

For her, cooking Latvian food is not just a daily task — it is a connection to her culture, her memories, and the women of her family. It is part of her identity. Līga and her husband are both Latvian, and although they live their everyday lives in another language and cultural space, at home they create their own little Latvia.

Living abroad, Līga has come to understand that home is not just a place on the map. Home is a scent — freshly baked bread, boiled potatoes with dill, fried cutlets and chops, stewed sauerkraut, freshly baked buns and пирāgi, gingerbread. These are feelings that live in the heart.

As Līga says, “In our home in Wales, it smells like Latvia.”

Photos from Līgas private archive.