Cold beet soup

Cold beet soup (Belarusian: халаднік, romanized: chaladnik; Latvian: aukstā zupa, lit. 'cold soup'; Lithuanian: šaltibarščiai, lit. 'cold borscht'; Polish: chłodnik litewski, lit. 'Lithuanian cold soup'; Ukrainian: холодник, romanized: kholodnyk) is a cold summer soup found in the cuisines of Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine. It is historically associated with the culinary traditions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the later Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where cold sour soups were common across the entire social strata, from the nobility to the peasants. Svekolnik is a related cold beet soup in Russian cuisine, commonly made with bread kvass or beetroot kvass. The dish has several regional and national forms. In modern Lithuanian cuisine, the beetroot-and-kefir version known as šaltibarščiai is especially prominent and is widely regarded as one of the country's best-known summer dishes. In Polish cuisine, the name chłodnik litewski historically referred to a regional style associated with the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In Belarusian cuisine, it is known as chaladnik and is well attested in 18th- and 19th-century ethnographic materials as a traditional and widespread summer dish. Related cold beet or sour summer soups are also present in Latvian and Ukrainian cuisines. The cold beet soup's recipe ingredients historically vary by region, season, and social context. Noble-household recipes included more elaborate additions, while rural versions were generally simpler and based on seasonal produce and fermented liquids. Since 2023, an annual cold beet soup festival has been held in Vilnius, which reflects the exceptional importance of šaltibarščiai in Lithuanian public food culture and culinary tourism.