Truly unique Lithuanian cuisine in Dayton, Ohio | Annamarie Berger

Annamarie Berger (maiden name Šliužas) is a descendant of the former owner and founder of “Amber Rose” restaurant in Dayton, Ohio. This restaurant is unique as it still serves what is considered a Lithuanian national dish in Dayton, Ohio - the Lithuanian turtle soup. Annamarie shares the story of this soup as well as the memories of “Amber Rose” restaurant.
The interview is recorded during the "Lithuanian Destination America 2022" expedition by Augustinas Žemaitis and Aistė Žemaitienė. The aim of these expeditions is to create the online map of Lithuanian heritage in America map.truelithuania.com as well as online encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage outside of Lithuania global.truelithuania.com

[@springfaith74]

This is a wonderful story about a great restaurant. Amber Rose is about 30-minutes drive from my home, and it is a gem. Thank you for the background to this unique restaurant!

[@JH-bf9ix]

This is so awesome! That’s my family 🇱🇹❤️ I’m from the Grincevičius-Grincius side! My mom is 100% Lithuanian-American and my dad was 50%. They were married at Holy Cross and my brother and I were baptized there. Love this!

[@waywardbard]

Absolutely delighted to hear her sing Lithuanian with such an American accent. Makes me feel less self-conscious lol.

[@TrueLithuania]

Indeed, one should never be ashamed of his or her accent - it is always better to speak and sing, even if with an accent, than not at all. Accent tends to decline if someone spends significant amount of time with native speakers, however, if one will be self-concious and avoid speaking because of his/her accent, then he/she will not be able to learn the language at all. In areas such as Dayton, OH, where nearly all Lithuanians are English-speaking, there are few if any native speakers, therefore, of course, it is difficult to learn to speak without an accent, and it is admirable that people learn bits of Lithuanian language anyways, despite it being no longer needed for day-to-day affairs in Dayton.

[@rodneycaupp5962]

Do you know the consciousness, of many old Americans, these communist days in Dayton Ohio. WE don't have a clue how to survive our own sick country. Freedom lost ! I do now know that Lithuania rejected communism in 1990.... American Governments became communist at around that time in our lives , here.

[@oddoni]

Virtiniai are basically koldūnai and vice versa. The only difference is that koldūnai have meat inside and the name comes from Lipka Tatars while virtiniai is anything but meat inside ranging from mushrooms to cottage cheese to potatoes. As far as turtle soup goes maybe that's why the only endemic turtle species in Lithuania is endangered 😅

[@TrueLithuania]

The thing is, Turtle soup does not exist in Lithuania and Lithuanians in Lithuania do not eat turtles. Turtle soup was invented in Dayton area by local Lithuanians ~1940s and became known in Dayton area as the Lithuanian Turtle Soup. Basically, its story is the same as that of numerous Chinese dishes that have been actually invented by Chinese-Americans and are unknown in China itself (Almond chicken, General Tso's chicken, Mongolian beef, Sweet roll), or with certain forms of kebabs that have been invented by Turkish emigrants who lived in Germany. Thus, it is an example of a unique phenomenon of "diaspora cuisine" that is seen as a representative of the "country of origins" while in fact it has been invented already abroad. Therefore, it is something that makes Dayton area Lithuanian culture different from both Lithuanian culture of Lithuania and the wider American culture.

[@Oberschutzee]

@@TrueLithuania yeah

[@oddoni]

@@TrueLithuania It's a joke, dude.

[@Anuisgod]

2:34 there's no such thing as Americans if you're not indigenous. America's Indians were slaughtered and then the land was occupied by people all over the world.

[@TrueLithuania]

While it is true, the way she uses the word means "de-ethnicised" population of Americans that does not have a strong separate ethnic identity. I.e. "American" would mean a person who speaks English natively and was brought up like that, does not have any minority cuisine, dance, song or other affinities. Interestingly, by this use, Native Americans themselves would not be included (at least those who safeguarded their identity) - but I guess it is a sad truth that words such as "American", "Australian"/"Aussie" are used to simply describe the majority at the time rather than the original / indigenous population. When the indigenous population becomes a minority, it on itself is often described with qualifiers, e.g. "Native American" (just like "Lithuanian-American" or "Polish-American").

[@suburbanbanshee]

North and South America have no indigenous human populations, because they came by sea or over land brudges. It is the same as with Europe, Asia, Australia, et al. Only Africa has indigenous people.

[@TrueLithuania]

@@suburbanbanshee Well, everything is relative. Clearly, in Africa people have not lived since the beginning of the time either. The word "indigenous" is typically used to mean the oldest ethnic groups in the areas (that inhabit it since prehistory) and, in this sense, most of places in the world have indigenous populations or the remains thereof.

[@rodneycaupp5962]

Sorry I didn't want the history and religion lecture. I'll stick with Southern Snapping Turtle soup. Short Tempered migration Weary..., accents are very communist to this U S Navy Veteran