Biezpiens: an untranslatable dairy product, akin to cottage cheese, but... slightly different. It literally means "hard milk" in Latvian. Biezpiens shows at every meal, usually mixed with yogurt. A sweetened version of biezpiens coated in chocolate is one of the most popular Latvian sweets. Even I, lover of all things intensely sugary, am not able to finish one - it is way too rich for me.
Breakfast
My host parents leave for work early, so breakfast is usually just the kids. (Actually, it's usually just Gatis and I, because we're the last ones up.) Breakfast is slices of white bread with any (usually all) of the following toppings: tomato, cucumber, biezpiens, cheese, salami, yogurt. My host brother Gatis eats about eight slices of bread stacked an inch high with food each morning. Latvians eat so much... For breakfast I usually have two pieces of bread with homemade cherry jam, cheese, and biezpiens. The host fam is very confused as to why I eat jam for breakfast and not dessert.
Lunch
Lunch tends to be a smaller meal much akin to breakfast. Sometimes there will be potatoes, or possibly pasta soup (hot milk with sugar and macaroni.)
Dinner
Dinner is around 9 or 9:30, and always contains some kind of potatoes and cabbage. Last night we had cabbage that was fried in a batter of eggs and flour... Latvian cabbage tempura? Cabbage is slowly growing on me... last night's cabbage was incredible. We usually have salad as well, but Latvian salad is nothing like American salad. It's vegetables (maybe cabbage) in yogurt. And yes, often with biezpiens.
So, a review of Latvian food: It is incredibly rich, and Latvians eat A LOT. I haven't been able to finish a full Latvian meal yet.
Breakfast
My host parents leave for work early, so breakfast is usually just the kids. (Actually, it's usually just Gatis and I, because we're the last ones up.) Breakfast is slices of white bread with any (usually all) of the following toppings: tomato, cucumber, biezpiens, cheese, salami, yogurt. My host brother Gatis eats about eight slices of bread stacked an inch high with food each morning. Latvians eat so much... For breakfast I usually have two pieces of bread with homemade cherry jam, cheese, and biezpiens. The host fam is very confused as to why I eat jam for breakfast and not dessert.
Lunch
Lunch tends to be a smaller meal much akin to breakfast. Sometimes there will be potatoes, or possibly pasta soup (hot milk with sugar and macaroni.)
Dinner
Dinner is around 9 or 9:30, and always contains some kind of potatoes and cabbage. Last night we had cabbage that was fried in a batter of eggs and flour... Latvian cabbage tempura? Cabbage is slowly growing on me... last night's cabbage was incredible. We usually have salad as well, but Latvian salad is nothing like American salad. It's vegetables (maybe cabbage) in yogurt. And yes, often with biezpiens.
So, a review of Latvian food: It is incredibly rich, and Latvians eat A LOT. I haven't been able to finish a full Latvian meal yet.
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