CIMG0559 Left to right: me, my mom, my sister, sister’s then-boyfriend-now-husband, my dad and S at a Russian cafe in Palanga.
CIMG0559 Left to right: me, my mom, my sister, sister’s then-boyfriend-now-husband, my dad and S at a Russian cafe in Palanga, September 2005
The restaurant might have had a more specific name than just “Russian cafe”, but if so, I don’t remember it. This was one of the minor moments of cognitive dissonance — though not an unpleasant one — that I experienced upon visiting Lithuania 10 years after its post-Soviet transition. Russian food was now relegated to the realm of ethnic food, on par with cuisines of other countries like, say, Mexican or Indian (though much better known to most Lithuanians than those others), instead of being just standard cafeteria and restaurant fare.
Palanga, Lithuania, September 2005
