In the Middle Ages, Lithuanians used spoons, their hands and knives to eat, but then the wife of Sigismund the Old, Bona Sforza, arrived and changed their habits forever. In her dowry chest, she had a fork. In the Middle Ages, clergymen called forks the tools of a devil because they signified antlers, but in the 16th&nbsp;century, when the Renaissance period thrived, fork were used in Italy when eating fruit, pasta or meat. An exhibition at the Palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania displays one of the first forks in Lithuania – forks had only two tines in those days.

The new queen dictated fashion trends within the manor and soon you could see noblemen using forks at the table. Just imagine what it would look like if you brought your own fork on a visit! This was actually a common practice in the 16th&nbsp;century – table utensils were expensive, and many noblemen took their utensils with them in special cases made of leather and lined with velvet. A fork would be given only to the most honourable of guests.

Forks eventually became table decorations – they were made by skilled masters and decorated with family coats of arms, different patterns or monograms. The art of fork usage was revealed to the Swedes as well. It was introduced to foreigners by Sigismund Augustus’ sister Catherine, who was married to the brother of the King of Sweden, the Prince of Finland. By the way, their wedding was held in Vilnius at the Palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania.

A fork in the Palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania

The 16th&nbsp;century changed the Lithuanians’ eating habits for good. Actually, the well-known products we are all familiar with now could only be found on the tables of noblemen. Meanwhile, today, most of us eat meals that only rulers and noblemen could afford in the 16-18th&nbsp;centuries. Everything started when the Duke of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the King of Poland Sigismund the Old married Bona Sforza – she brought a small part of her native Italy to the manor and new winds started blowing in the royal cuisine. A garden was set up near the Lower Castle where Italian plants, herbs and vegetables were grown. You can see what it looked like and how it smelled when the weather gets warmer by visiting the restored Bona Sforza Garden in the Courtyard of the Palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania and inhaling its aromas.

Leek, celery, spinach, artichoke, basil and rosemary from the royal garden found their way to the plates of other noblemen as well. There were attempts to establish a vineyard, but the Lithuanian winters were fierce. However, archaeologists have found a grapeseed dating back to that time – you can see it exhibited at the Palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Hence, most of what everyone of us has in our fridges or grow in our gardens today – carrots, parsley roots, celery roots, leek – were once called by one name – Italian vegetables.

Garden of the Palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania

The gardens of Vilnius’ noblemen were just as impressive as the royal ones. Near present-day Tilto Street, in place of the houses we see today were the manor and gardens of the Radvila (Radziwiłł) family. You could find conventional fruit trees here; there were fig trees and walnut trees in the wooden greenhouse, even mulberry trees producing what we now consider a super food (they grew in the garden of Elisabeth Sophie Hohencolern-Radvilienė, Elisabeth Sophie von Brandenburg). Written sources have recorded that there had been no such berries in Lithuania before, as exotic fruit trees were extremely expensive. In the 16th&nbsp;century, the penalty for the destruction of a tree was equal to the cost of 12 cows or 24,000 cabbages.

In addition to fruit, you could also find berries in gardens. There was also a cottage garden with the so-called Italian vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, arugula, chicory, herbs – and potatoes were mentioned among the vegetables, perhaps for the first time. Thus, the people cooking for the nobility had all kinds of opportunities to demonstrate their craft. The most impressive exotic fruit garden in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which grew in&nbsp;Biała&nbsp;in southern&nbsp;Poland,&nbsp;was owned by the Radvila family. It had orange trees, pomegranates, fig trees and passion flowers – in total, 1,675 different trees.

Gardens of Tilto Street

Did Vilnius’ nobility only eat gourmet masterpieces every day? Some evidence suggests that one dish prevailed on the tables of all social layers. Everyone liked it – bishops, the nobility and even Barbora Radvilaitė. It is the well-known beetroot soup. But have we tried the one that was usual in those days?

The very first beetroot soup recipes date back to the 17th&nbsp;century – they were written in Lithuanian and found in a notebook belonging to one of Radvilas’ cooks. It says that the soup was enjoyed during the fasting period. The recipe: “Put some beetroot [leaves] in water, add some almond or poppy milk, some flour, mix well and boil…” In fact, their beetroot soup was not only made using the root, as is common today, but also local beetroots from meadows or fermented beetroot leaves. The soup was so popular that Polish people who wanted to mock Lithuanians called them, “the beetroot leaf soup lovers.”

It was thought that this soup had curative powers. The soup was served both hot and cold. But should you like to try some of the cold beetroot soup equivalent, you would be surprised to see its predecessor in your bowl – cold soup. The beetroot leaf soup was served with sour cream, crayfish necks, pieces of veal or turkey, cucumbers and a hard-boiled egg.

Beetroot Soup or Beetroot Leaf Soup

What did people do when they fell ill in the Middle Ages? Before pharmacies existed, only a doctor could help. The first pharmacies opened their doors in the 16th&nbsp;century. In Lithuania, the first pharmacy was set up by Aleksandras Balinskis in Vilnius in 1506, but no knowledge of its location has been preserved. Meanwhile, the other pharmacist who arrived at the invitation of Bona Sforza was Franciscus Radicibus. He opened a pharmacy on Pilies Street that was popular among the nobility and highborn city dwellers.

In fact, only a handful of people went to the pharmacy to buy medicine. The then pharmacies are reminiscent of a magician’s world: you could buy dried animals, venom and even some powder of mummies. Pharmacies also offered exotic and luxurious food products, soap, perfume, brandy, liqueur and even gems. Today, it would be quite unusual to go to a pharmacy for some sugar or rice, but these valuable goods could only be found at the pharmacy in the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Pharmacists also prepared pastilles, sugar candies and marzipan, which were highly regarded by Bona Sforza.

Pharmacy on Pilies Street

Monasteries throughout Europe engaged in more than traditional soul shepherding. Famous beer and wine originated in monasteries and have survived to the present day. What about monasteries and vineyards in Vilnius? Although there were no vineyards in the city, the daily diet of monks included wine. Pursuant to the order of Bishop Jurgis Radvila, dated to the late 16th&nbsp;century, in convents it was usual to serve 1 kg of bread, ½ litre of wine diluted in water (though not during fasting periods), 5 eggs per day and almost 1 kg of meat. By the way, beer and cider were not considered alcoholic beverages. It was thought that they were better for your health than water. For this reason, they were consumed alongside meals. Meanwhile, brandy and alcohol infusions served a medicinal function.

In cottage gardens, monks would grow vegetables and herbs for spices, and used them to season their meal. In convents, three dishes were usually served for lunch, and two for dinner. Consequently, there was a lot of cooking. Although it is usual today that moderation is practiced in monasteries, in the 16th&nbsp;century, this was not always the case. Some documents have survived stating that senior Bernardine Nuns in Vilnius would take some food from the common storage facilities and keep it in their cells separately for themselves and cook it individually, so modesty was not typical in this regard. In some later complaints, you can see that Bernardine Monks reduced the daily portion for convents, while themselves enjoying coffee and Hungarian wine.

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Monks’ Diet

These days, the Radvila family would be called party animals and programmes would be created about their parties. The balls that took place in the Palace of the Radvila family in the 16th&nbsp;century would surprise even today’s party-lovers. Dishes were prepared in an elaborate way. For instance, if fish was made, one part of it was roasted, the second – boiled, and the third – steamed or pot-roasted.

But guests were often most impressed by the mountains of sugar. The nobility quickly grew fond of expensive sugar; it was used to season both wine and meat – everything. Was it delicious? Not necessarily. But it was indeed unforgettable. The English diplomat Horsey described one of the balls organised by Radvila the Orphan: “Bizarre statues of lions, unicorns, eagles, swans and other were made of sugar and their bellies were filled with wine and spices. You could get bored if you had to name all those various dishes and rarities.”

Pastries were used to make rocks, almond palaces, even armies of Crusaders. Even today, you would want to take a photo of these decorations and wouldn’t forget the ball for a long time. It’s hard to identify which of the Radvila Family palaces were mentioned in the descriptions; this also may be the cardinal’s residence at Pilies g. 23, where a new building was built by the Soviets after WWII.

Best Parties in the City

Of the major travellers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania who went overseas was Prince Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł, nicknamed “the orphan” (Lith.&nbsp;Mikalojus Kristupas Radvila Našlaitėlis). On Literatų Street in Vilnius, you can see an image of a map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania he commissioned. The nobleman travelled to the Near East for two years and accumulated experiences and impressions he later described in his memoires entitled, Trip to Jerusalem. The book was so popular that after its release in Lithuanian it was translated into Latin, German, Polish and Russian, and was distributed and read all over Europe for a few centuries.

When he was in foreign countries, Mikalojus Kristupas Radvila Našlaitėlis documented unusual customs and food traditions. He revealed that Syrians thought that Adam and Eve ate a banana, not an apple, in the Garden of Eden. He wrote: “After the fruit is cut into small round pieces, the letter T can be seen, which is in the shape of a cross.” In truth, Radvila the Orhpan was not sure of that. The description maintains that the bananas that can be bought anywhere today had not yet reached Vilnius. However cucumbers, for instance, were common for Lithuanians: “Visually, the fruit looks like our cucumber but is slightly longer, thicker and curved.”

The traveller also tried&nbsp;avgotaracho&nbsp;(caviar of salted mullet with a wax coat); now this dish is included in the database of EU products bearing a protected designation of origin.

Radvila Našlaitėlis’ Exotic Trip

Today, a box of chocolates or sweets is a pleasant gift, but the feeling cannot be compared to the one experienced in the 16th&nbsp;century when a box of marzipan sweets was a valuable rarity often given to a fiancé during matchmaking.

There is a special story related to marzipan that occured in Vilnius. In the late 16th&nbsp;century, the richest bride of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Sofija Olelkaitė, lived in the Chodkiewicz&nbsp;Palace&nbsp;(Lith.&nbsp;Chodkevičiai). When she was still very young, Jurgis Chodkevičius agreed with Radvila Perkūnas that Sofija would be married to Jonušas Radvilas in exchange for the forgiving of old debts, and Jonušas Radvilas would get a substantial dowry. However, as the wedding approached, the Chodkevičiai family changed their mind and numerous armies of both noblemen arrived to Vilnius. To avoid a civil war, Jonušas Radvila visited Sofija on numerous occasions and gave her boxes of marzipan. The city was laughing at the situation: “all the marzipan in the world couldn’t help.” This saying has survived both Sofija and Jonušas and could be heard even in the early 20th&nbsp;century.

Can marzipan be the reason for the wedding that finally took place? No one knows, though their marriage did not last long, as Sofija died while giving birth.

Marzipan Diplomacy

If you found yourself at a medieval feast of nobles, you would not find most of the vegetables we know today; however, you would see plenty of different meat, beer and mead. In truth, people used to fast in those days; this would last 139 days a year, so you had to be very imaginative and creative during this period.

In the 16th&nbsp;century, when a string of merchants headed to the city and the Queen of Poland Bona Sforza settled in the manor, new culinary trends were brought to the kitchens of Vilnius – new utensils appeared on the table as well as Italian vegetables and exotic dishes. The beetroot soup (borsch) or cold beetroot soup so beloved nowadays were of a different flavour in those days. Stuffed peacocks and swans were a smaller surprise among the nobility than sugar statues, marzipan, elaborate dishes and tons of food. Today, 16th-century banquets would be discussed on lifestyle programmes and in magazines, and present-day chefs would hardly want to try making dishes following strange recipes. By the way, almond milk was discovered not by modern-day hipsters, but by the noblemen of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during their fasting period.

Gardening in 16th-century Vilnius was completely different, too – cottage gardens consisted of much more than just beetroots. Could you imagine that the territory that is now the heart of Vilnius accommodated a paradise garden? You could walk among fig or orange groves, pick berries from a mulberry tree or try some honeydew melon.

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Vilnius

XVI century: Culinary revolution and noblemen feasts

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