Amber & Rye: A Baltic Food Journey Estonia Latvia Lithuania

by Zuza Zak

"It is such a joy to finally see a cookbook on beautiful Baltic cuisine, done with so much sensitivity and respect by Zuza Zak, one of my favourite authors. It is making me pine to travel to the region more than ever. Before I can do that, I will enjoy reading and cooking from this wonderful book." Olia Hercules

In the Baltics, two worlds meet: the Baltic Sea joins Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, bringing with it culinary influences and cultural exchange. All three Baltic capitals, Vilnius, Tallinn and Riga, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, steeped in history and culture. Amber & Rye explores this exciting part of Eastern Europe, guiding you around the capitals, sharing stories and discovering a dynamic, new style of cooking. Contextualized within the Baltics' rich history and culture, the food is a doorway to a deeper understanding of the region and what makes it tick.

The recipes explore new culinary horizons, are grounded in Baltic tradition, yet inspired by contemporary trends, making them modern, unique and easy to recreate at home. And in addition to the recipes and travel stories, there are snippets of poetry, literature, songs and proverbs, adding a rich layer that makes Amber & Rye a cultural reference point for travellers as well as a showcase for the vibrant new cuisine of the Baltic States.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Travel, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 27, 2021

About the author

I call myself a Storyteller-Cook, my aim is to inspire the world to cook and eat more food from Eastern Europe. I am interested in the culture and history of food, therefore I use storytelling as a medium for delving into another cuisine and through it, into another culture.

I have written three cookbooks on Eastern European cuisine – Polska, Amber & Rye and Pierogi. I am currently working on a food focused PhD and my fourth book, which will be something a little different…

I learnt the art of cooking from an early age, from my beloved Babcias (grandmas) – Ziuta and Halinka. All of my early childhood memories are intertwined with food, so now I am now passing on the culinary love to my two daughters.

My own story began in a land and time very removed and different from the one I inhabit today. I was born in Communist Poland in 1979 and spent the first 8 years of my life in an oppressive regime that I remember with a strange mixture of fear and nostalgia. There was often nothing to be found in the shops. Sometimes people would queue for 8 hours or more to buy one random ingredient that happened to be available that day, yet somehow the Polish people always found a way to eat and to enjoy themselves. Families, friends and communities would work together to find, grow, forage and obtain everything that was needed to create amazing feasts.

Since arriving in the UK, aged 8, I have found that people here know very little about my country, it’s food and culture. Even now that there are so many Poles living here, the cuisine is relatively unknown or completely misunderstood. When I started writing “Polska” I had a full-time job and would get up at 6.30am to do 45min of writing before work. In this way, bit-by-bit, the book wrote itself. All the interest that my book has generated has been heart-warming. I hope that my story is an inspiration to others to follow their passions.

Reviews

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

What did I expect from a deluxe recipe book featuring the cuisine of the Baltic states? Well, despite not remembering what I ate when I was there (it was 1996, after all) I thought to see something semi-Scandinavian, semi-Russian, definitely hanging on granny's instructions and ideas. Oh, and if I were to follow the book to any extent I'd have to stock up on dill. Lots of dill. I think I expected something a bit more in tuned with my own way of cooking, however – this involves a lot of high-end, hard-to-source ingredients (Latvian green cheese, anyone?!), smokers, and a lot of fiddle-faddling to get the honest, home-made style and speciality flavours.

As a book it looks a fine one – we get the usual "journey" typical of such books, proving the recipes are echt, and catering for a visual flavour of the places these dishes come from. All this is present and correct. The recipes are not strictly done by country, even if we seem to be visiting separate cities in every chapter. Instead we get breakfast baking, starters, salads, mains, fish and finally the other accompaniments (which ease your mind at the "first ferment your beetroot" instruction elsewhere). To my mind this cuisine fits very well into the whole foods ethos – proper use of natural grains, seasonal produce, local fish (yes, that means local to wherever we are, it doesn't always have to come from the Baltic), and so on – and the use of anything that had been seasonal but has since been pickled, fermented and otherwise stored. It all sounds suitably lovely, in the hands of more adept chefs than I will ever be. Not every dish gets a photograph, but I don't think you're ever left hanging, and there are tips on sourcing the specific things that will be new to your shelves. So while my use of these recipes won't be as often as wished by the creators here, I will indulge. I might start at the end with the home-made poppy seed fudge, which was never something I thought to type. For one thing, it uses no dill.

Four stars then, at least, for this latest kiek in den koek.

[Valerie Thirkettle-Kayser · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely book! Amber & Rye is much more than a cookbook. It is an experience that we make with Zuza Zak, who takes us on a journey to reconnect with her roots, walk in her grandma's footsteps, and explore the Baltic States. The book guides the reader through a bit of history and context of each of the locations, just enough to set the scene and create the atmosphere.
With each step of the journey, we discover the culinary culture of this part of the world. We explore the use of ingredients which we are not familiar with, and we learn a lot about very interesting cooking techniques like curing, fermenting, pickling and more. I found it fascinating because I did not know anything about the cuisine of this part of the world before I opened this book and I learned a lot.
I am definitely going to try Linda's tomato tart with Latvian green cheese , the fish soups, Greta's Medutis honey layer cake and the pumpkin buns. There is plenty in this book for those of us who wish to explore a new experience for our tastebuds.
I definitely recommend this book.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rough draft of my review which I will update once I try some of the recipes.
This is a beautiful book
Most of the recipes have photos which I love in cookbooks where I'm not familiar with the cuisine.
There are many vegetarian, vegan and pescatarian recipes. Some meat based recipes offer suggestions for making them vegan or vegetarian. There is an entire chapter devoted to fermented foods which I am very excited to try.
I was quite surprised to find that roughly half of the recipes call for ingredients that will be tricky for me to find. She does give suggestions in the back of the book for places to find the ingredients online and she also suggests substitutions. I just hadn't realized how many of the ingredients would be unique to the region.
I loved the quotes from Baltic books and poems. She also includes interesting brief histories of the region. The stories of her travels in the area made me want to pack and leave for Estonia immediately.

[Charles Eldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous and tantalizing. Zuza Zak’s culinary guide through the Baltic counties of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are what a cookbook should strive to be: informative, accessible, usable, and inspirational. I want to journey to these places and eat just about everything in these pages. This is only my second exposure to Baltic cuisine after Bajada’s “Baltic”, but this book has the current bonus of being in print. They only negative for this Southern California reviewer, is that many of the ingredients that seem to make the author’s recipes sing, are not easily sourced. I would have appreciated possible substitution suggestions for some of the more rare ingredients.

[Pauline Knox · Rating 5 out of 5]

In short, I think this is a fabulous book and a very pleasing addition to my library of recipe books. But to be fair it isn’t just a cook book, it contains a beautifully descriptive narrative of a region of the world that I really knew very little about, and I found this fascinating also. The combination of narrative, photos and interesting recipes that I’d never encountered makes this a great book.
I would definitely recommend this book.
My thanks to NetGalley, Murdoch Books and Zuza Zak for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

[Aasinathena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never had the idea of what people around Baltic sea ate. And I feel so sorry about that I didn't paid attention to their cuisine. History on this book, has given me more insight of what made the produce and catch of the day, "their food". A beautiful book to read!

[Juli Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful and unique volume.

[Janet Schalk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big surprise, it turns out that Baltic food is somewhere in between Russian food and Scandinavian food. Beautiful pictures.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the recipes and rich storytelling of the region. The photography was also wonderful. I am looking forward to making more from this book.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice recipes and stories from a region I'm not very familiar with. Love reading about (and trying) new-to-me ingredients.

[Stephanie Eddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting bits of history and recipes. Made me want to learn more about the singing revolution. Will likely purchase this to reference

[Will Schrensky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cookbook for recipes I wouldn’t have come across otherwise. Images are well done and the recipes are for the most part attainable (skills, supplies, tools)

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75. A beautiful book but I doubt I’d cook any of the recipes.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I simply adore books like this. They are part history lesson, part travelogue, and full of gorgeous photographs and enticing recipes. Zak takes you to underappreciated places and cultures that you cannot help but want to visit by the end of the book.