Lithuania!

 

Last week was Poland by way of Cleveland's Pierogi Week. This week is Lithuania by way of Worldwide Cepelinas Day at the Lithuanian Club on E. 185 Street. They serve cepelinas every Sunday, but on Worldwide Cepelinas Day, there are several fillings to choose from. According to the lovely host, Ruta (who was a walking and talking Lithuanian history lesson), Worldwide Cepelinas Day was actually conceived by a Detroit Lithuanian in 2014. Cleveland joined that very first year because they have always served cepelinai on Sundays at the club. It was determined that it would take place the first Sunday of February which lines up with the Super Bowl. Since cepelinai are shaped like a football, it was decided that would be a good day to celebrate cepelinai! The Super Bowl was moved to the second Sunday this year, but traditions stay strong at the Lithuanian Club and they still celebrated on the first Sunday. Over 300 cepelinai were made by four women this year!

Ruta seated us and recommended that we get one of each flavor to try and to wash it all down with a Lithuanian lager. Sounded good to me! I added in the beet salad and cucumber dill salad to get a tiny bit of fresh veggies to our plates.

Order in, let's research!

Let me just start by saying that Ruta was incredible! She chatted with us for a long time, sharing the history of Lithuania and stories about the families who had to leave quickly with all of their belongings buried somewhere with the hopes of returning some day. It's haunting to think about how history just keeps repeating itself. It wasn't all sadness though; there is a lot of joy in the Lithuanian community in Cleveland. Tables full of families and friends sharing a laugh, a drink, and plates upon plates of food! Tons of tradition being kept alive in that nondescript brick building on the east side! Their menus listed activities all week long - choir, concerts, Lithuanian school, and many club luncheons.

(Case Western Reserve has a great resource for Cleveland history, so I am pulling info from there for these posts because it seems silly to recreate the wheel!)

The first wave of Lithuanian immigrants came here at the turn of the century (1890-1910), and the second wave—more appropriately termed political refugees—arrived in the wake of World War II (1948-50), after the USSR had forcibly annexed Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in 1940. Early Lithuanians were absorbed as cheap labor into thriving local industries. Although the laissez faire system of the time exploited many immigrants, it also offered opportunities for success, and by the first decade of the 20th century, about 50 business establishments—many of them taverns that also served as informal community centers—boasted Lithuanian ownership. That was at a period when little more than 1,000 Lithuanians lived here. Other organizations, manifesting a need and a desire by the immigrants to maintain their culture and heightened by a national reawakening in Lithuania itself, which led to the independence of the country in 1918, thrived in the interwar period. By 1930, when approx. 10,000-12,000 Lithuanians lived in Cleveland, there were more than 15 civic, cultural, religious, sports, artistic, and political organizations centered here, and local chapters of more than 20 national organizations.

The second wave of immigrants came after World War II, when approximately 4,000 Lithuanian refugees settled here. This influx comprised mainly educated, professional levels of society and included the last president of the Lithuanian Republic, Antanas Smetona, who came here during the war and perished in a fire in 1944. Postwar refugees maintained a deep-seated feeling that their country would soon be freed from Soviet domination and that their stay here was temporary. For that reason, they tended to form their own organizations centered around institutions transferred here from the Old Country or formed anew, rather than join organizations established by the early immigrants, who had become not only acculturated to American ways but assimilated as well. 

A monumental impact on the community was the re-establishment of Lithuanian independence and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. The leader of the re-established state, Vytautas Landsbergis, visited Cleveland several times seeking support even while Soviet troops were still in control of the country. When Lithuania was formally recognized, the new U.S. ambassador, Darryl N. Johnson, made a trip to Cleveland his first official stateside visit in that capacity. Both the visits of Landsbergis and Johnson were in acknowledgement of the significant role the Lithuanian-American community here played in the 50-year lobby effort on behalf of the liberation of the land of their roots.

As you might imagine, the Lithuanian Cultural Garden is impressive. The garden design is in the form of a lyre and the three levels extend from East Blvd to MLK Jr Drive.

Time to eat!

I don't think we were prepared for just how hearty the cepelinai were going to be, even though they were described as food for the farmers to carry them through their long work days. But, again, when Ruta tells you what you're eating, you're going to eat it! 

Cepelinai are potato dumplings made from grated and riced potatoes and stuffed with ground meat, dry curd cheese, or mushrooms. After boiling, they are served with a sour cream sauce and bacon bits. The farmers cheese and mushroom both had their own cheese and mushroom sauces.

The name of cepelinai comes from their shape that resembles a Zeppelin airship. Cepelinai are typically around 4-8 inches long, although the size depends on where they are made: in the western counties of Lithuania cepelinai are made bigger than in the east. These were probably in the 4-5 inch range and PLENTY big. 

The taste and texture is kind of a mix between a pierogi and a really giant gnocchi. This is true stick to your ribs food and I was regretting my final bites, even though they were tasty! 

The warm beet salad and creamy and cool cucumber dill salad were great accompaniments and helped cut some of the heaviness of the cepelinai. The Lithuanian lager was the perfect way to wash it all down! 

This was such a heartwarming stop on this food tour. We both left feeling like we learned so much about Lithuania and about the vibrant Lithuanian community here in Cleveland. The private club is open to visitors on Sundays and they typically have a buffet. Warning: come hungry and ready to chat! 

22 down, 30 to go! 

Lithuanian Club/Gintaras Dining Room

877 E. 185 St.

Cleveland, OH 44119

216.531.2131

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Open Sundays 11:30a - 1:30p