Latvia

Latvian cooking is hearty and grey-pea-loving, built on rye bread, pork, potatoes, and the beloved cold beet soup. Foraging, dairy, and dark bread reflect a deep connection to the Baltic land and forest.

Grey peas with bacon are effectively compulsory at Christmas, and Latvijas lielie pelekie zirni, the big grey peas themselves, have held EU protected status since 2015. Folklore says the bowl must be finished, because any peas left behind become tears in the coming year, and the Christmas table is supposed to carry at least twelve dishes.

Midsummer has its own cheese. Janu siers is fresh curd heated with milk, butter, eggs and a handful of caraway, pressed into a round yellow wheel that stands for the sun, and it is eaten with beer through the shortest night of the year. It holds EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status, as do a Latvian rye bread and the carrot buns called sklandrausi.

A layered trifle of toasted rye breadcrumbs, tart cranberry, and whipped cream, a uniquely Latvian dessert.