What are the three things Lithuanians miss? Mostly summer, because it’s always too short. And the sun, because sometimes it only shines for half a day in the capital during one winter month. And, of course, pink soup, of which Lithuanians can never have enough.

Pink soup is a cold, refreshing pink beetroot soup that is a must when visiting Lithuania! It is made with kefir (fermented milk) and a generous addition of pickled beetroot, which gives the cold soup its bright pink colour. Then you just need to add some crunchy cucumbers and aromatic dill, and don’t forget the hard-boiled egg.
 
In Lithuania, this soup is on the list of holy dishes, along with potato-meat dumplings, potato pie, and potato pancakes. And a necessary attribute of all these dishes are boiled or baked potatoes, which bring out the flavour of the pink soup.

Paintings are painted in honour of pink soup, maps are drawn up of the places where it is made, and awards are given. And although they are made with the same basic ingredients in every home, the taste of each pink soup varies slightly due to proportions, interpretations, or additional ingredients. Lithuanians are also convinced that pink soup can be made into anything—even pink soup cake and ice cream!
 
Even if foreigners are suspicious of our potato-meat dumplings, they fall in love with pink soup as soon as they taste it. And that’s no idle boast: this year, tasteatlas.com has ranked the world's best cold soups and our pink soup made it into the top three.
 
Yes, we’re really crazy about this pink soup, and in the summer we even organized Pink Soup Fest in Vilnius, which became an annual event.