Latvia was not on my radar as a foodie destination, I visited for everything but the food. But wow, was I wrong to dismiss it. Latvian food is hearty and comforting with a satisfying simplicity to it. The flavors are rustic with lots of rye, dairy, smoked meats and potatoes. It is the type of food that makes you need to sit for a while after you’re finished.
A lot of what you’ll find is rooted in the seasons. Latvians have been pickling, smoking and preserving for centuries because of those long, harsh winters, and you can taste that tradition in almost everything. It’s real, it’s filling and some of the best things I ate on the entire trip were the ones I almost walked past.
If you’re heading to Latvia and wondering what to eat, here are the dishes I’d genuinely tell you to try.
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About Latvian Food
Latvia was part of the Soviet Union for fifty years and that is a long time for a food culture to get under your skin. A lot of what you’ll eat in Latvia, the syrniki, the belyash, the rasols, the cebureki, these are Soviet-era staples or widely shared dishes across the USSR and became comfort food for a generation. When the occupation ended in 1991 the food stayed, because of course it did, you can’t just unlearn what your mother cooked.
Before that there were the Germans, who ruled for centuries and left behind a love of dark rye, smoked pork and hearty no-nonsense eating. And underneath all of it is something older and more Baltic, the pickling, the smoking, the foraging, the dairy, traditions that predate every occupation and were never really going anywhere regardless of who was in charge. The result is a cuisine that’s genuinely hard to categorise.
Some of it is Russian, some of it is German, some of it is just what happens when you live somewhere cold and need to eat well and preserve what you can. Latvians don’t make a big deal of any of this, it’s just dinner. But it’s worth knowing where it comes from before you sit down.
12 Latvian Foods To Eat
1. Deep Fried Rye Bread
This stuff is dangerously addictive. Latvians take their dark rye bread, cut it into strips or cubes, fry it with garlic and serve it as a snack, usually with a dipping sauce or just on its own with a beer.
This isn’t the thin, slightly bland rye you might find at home. Latvian rye bread is dark, dense, and has this deep, slightly sweet, almost malty flavour to it. The crust has a bit of chew, and the inside is soft but substantial. And the garlic you can smell it from across the room. It’s pungent and buttery and sticks to your fingers
You’ll find it on almost every menu. My favorite way was in garlic butter or with a gooey cheese dip. It’s a classic bar snack or appetizer.
Every bar has some version of this and you’ll want to order it every single time. It tastes 100 times better than it looks, I promise.
2. Grey Peas & Bacon (Pelēkie Zirņi ar Speķi)
This is the national dish of Latvia and yes, it sounds incredibly basic. Grey peas. Bacon. That’s it. But I promise you it’s better than it sounds on paper.
Grey peas are a whole dried pea, bigger and earthier than the green split peas you might be used to. These peas have a slightly earthy, nutty taste. They’re cooked until soft but still have a slight bite to them and then tossed with chunks of smoked bacon (speķi) and caramelised onions. that are somewhere between crispy and chewy depending on how they’re cooked. It’s salty, a little sweet from the onions, and genuinely so moreish.
The fat from the bacon coats everything and the smokiness just seeps into the peas. I took one uninspired bite and immediately understood why it’s been a staple in Latvia for hundreds of years. You’ll find it everywhere.
It’s also pretty healthy as it’s packed with fibre and protein.
3. Pink Soup (Aukstā Zupa)
Okay, the pink soup. This one gets a reaction from pretty much every traveller who sees it for the first time it’s a bright, vivid pink and it arrives cold with eggs bopping around. Yes, cold soup and egg.
The base is kefir (fermented dairy drink) and beetroot, so you get this slightly sour creamy tang mixed with that sweet earthy beetroot flavour. It’s topped with chopped hard-boiled egg, dill, cucumber and sometimes radishes. Texture-wise it’s smooth and light. The dill hits you first on the nose and then you get a cool, refreshing first spoonful. If you’re visiting between May and September, you’ll see this on practically every menu, harder to find in the winter but there are warm versions of it.
It sounds weird, it looks wild, and it tastes great.
4. Potato Pancakes
Now I’ve had potato pancakes in a few countries and Latvia does them properly. They’re made from grated raw potato, fried until the outside is golden and crispy and the inside is soft and almost creamy. For any Irish and Uk readers, they are basically larger hash browns. They usually come served with sour cream and sometimes smoked salmon or even just a bit of garlic sauce.
I really loved ordering these during the winter. Something about that fried, starchy, buttery aroma that comes off them when they arrive at your table, it is irresistible.
These are a street food staple at markets but you’ll also find fancier versions in restaurants. Either way, order them.
Want to explore in person?
Discover the flavours of Riga on a guided food tour from grey peas to pirāgi.
Book a Riga food tour →5. Black Balsam
Alright this isn’t a food but you absolutely cannot go to Latvia without trying Rīgas Melnais Balzams. It’s a herbal liqueur that’s been made in Riga since the 1700s and it is intense.
Dark, bitter, medicinal, slightly sweet, with a warming sensation that spreads through your chest. The original version is quite strong and honestly an acquired taste, it tastes like herbs and oak and something vaguely mysterious. In all honesty it tastes like cough syrup.
They also do a blackcurrant version which is smoother and a lot easier to drink. Locals mix it with coffee, hot chocolate or even just knock it back as a shot. You have to try it. It’s a whole experience.
6. Syrniki
Syrniki also known as Biezpiena Plācenīši (try saying that three times fast) are sweet curd cheese pancakes and they are so so good.
They’re made with biezpiens, which is a Latvian quark-style curd cheese, mixed into a batter and pan-fried until golden. They’re soft and pillowy on the inside with a slightly caramelised exterior.
Served warm with sour cream, jam, or fresh berries… sometimes all three. They smell like vanilla and warm butter.
7. Zeppelins
Originating from Lithuania zeppelins (called cepelinai in Lithuanian) can be found throughout Latvia. These are large, torpedo-shaped potato dumplings stuffed with a seasoned meat filling, typically usually pork.
The outer shell is made from a mix of raw and cooked potato, which gives it this unique dense but silky texture, a bit like a thick jelly. They come drowned in a sour cream sauce or sometimes with crispy bacon bits on top.
These are big though. One or two is a full meal, easily. Don’t make the mistake of ordering three like I almost did.
8. Smoked Fish
Latvia has a long coastline and smoking fish is practically a national art form. You’ll find smoked sprats, mackerel, trout, and eel at markets everywhere, especially in Riga Central Market.
The fish is rich and oily with that deep, woody smokiness that gets right into the flesh. Sprats are probably the most iconic, they’re small, intensely flavoured and usually eaten on dark rye bread with butter. The texture is tender and flaky and the smoke flavour lingers.
If you go to the Central Market (and you should), spend some time in the fish section. Buy a piece of smoked eel if you see it. You won’t regret it.
9. Cebureki
Cebureki are thin, crispy pastry parcels stuffed with a seasoned meat filling, usually minced pork or beef with onions and spices.
The pastry is rolled thin and folded over into a half-moon shape, then fried until it’s golden and blistered all over. The first thing you notice is the crunch it’s loud and shattery and so satisfying. Then you hit the meat filling which is juicy and well-seasoned and basically steams inside the pastry while it fries, so everything stays really moist. They’re greasy, you definitely need a napkin .
You’ll find them at street food stalls, markets, and casual eateries, often sold hot out of the fryer. They’re cheap and filling.
10. Belyash
Belyash is not a dish that gets a lot of attention in food guides and I have no idea why because it is one of the most satisfying things I ate in Latvia.
It’s a fried dough bun with a hole in the top, stuffed with minced meat, usually pork or beef with onion. The dough is soft and slightly chewy and the filling cooks inside while the outside fries, so you get a crispy golden base and bottom with a proper steamed, juicy filling inside. That hole in the top isn’t decorative, it’s how the meat cooks through without the dough going soggy.
They’re sold hot at markets and street stalls, often just handed to you in a paper napkin. Eat them immediately, they are best consumed standing up at the stall while slightly too hot to handle.
11. Honey Cake
Honey cake consists of layers of thin, biscuity sponge stacked with a whipped sour cream filling and left to sit overnight so everything softens and merges together into something absolutely delicious.
The honey flavour is there but it’s subtle, more caramel-like rather than floral. The cream cuts through any sweetness and gives it this slightly tangy richness. The texture is the best thing though, it should be soft all the way through with just a little resistance from the layers. If someone serves you one that’s still a bit crunchy, it hasn’t been left long enough.
I saw it in most cafes, it goes so well with a cup of coffee.
Gluten Free Food In Latvia
Right, so this is worth talking about because Latvia is very much a bread and grain culture. Rye bread is popular here and wheat-based pastries and dumplings are staples. That said, eating gluten free in Latvia is definitely doable, you just need to be a bit more prepared than in some other European countries.
In Riga, more and more restaurants are labelling gluten free options on their menus, especially the newer or more tourist-friendly spots. The naturally gluten free dishes are your best friends here, such as the grey peas, smoked fish, potato pancakes (just double check the batter) and the cold beetroot soup. A lot of Latvian food is potato or dairy-based, so there are options.
Outside of Riga, it gets trickier. Smaller towns and rural areas might not be as familiar with gluten free requirements, so learning a couple of phrases in Latvian or having a translation card on your phone is a smart move. “Es nevaru ēst glutēnu” means “I cannot eat gluten” and it’s worth having that saved.
Supermarkets in Riga carry gluten free products. Rimi and Maxima are the main chains and both stock a decent range of gluten free bread, pasta, and snacks. So self-catering is always an option if you’re finding restaurant dining tricky. I personally found it fine and had plenty of options when dining out.
Coffee In Latvia
Latvia’s coffee scene genuinely surprised me. Riga especially has a brilliant café culture and the quality of coffee is really high. You’ll find speciality coffee shops all over the Old Town and the city centre, pulling proper single-origin espresso and doing excellent flat whites.
Latvians take their coffee seriously and a lot of the local roasters are sourcing some really interesting beans. It’s not just chain coffee either there are loads of independent spots with their own roasts and a real passion for what they’re doing.
I noticed that filter coffee isn’t as common as espresso-based drinks. If you want a plain black coffee, ask for an Americano rather than a filter and you’ll be sorted.
Although I always recommend going to independent coffee shops Latvia has some great chains. If you are stuck I recommend the following Latvian cafe chains:
- Rocket Bean
- KALVE
- KURTS coffee
- Moltto
- Caffeine