Lithuanian National Library launches campaign to preserve family recipes as cultural heritage

The Lithuanian National Library (Martynas Mažvydas Library) is inviting residents of Lithuania to submit their family recipes for fermentation, preservation and marinating. Submissions can be made until 31 October and will be archived in the library’s official collections for future generations.

The call is led by Dr. Jolanta Budriūnienė, director of the Document Heritage Research Department, who says that family recipes are "living history" that travel across generations. To illustrate the value of such culinary heritage, historians highlighted a 17th‑century cucumber‑pickling recipe from the Radziwiłł estate, showing how noble‑court techniques once impressed foreign guests. The library hopes the public‑shared recipes will join the nation’s cultural record alongside historic documents.