Following her heart
by Navjyoti Dalal
In this column, 'Home Is Where The Hearth Is', written by Navjyoti Dalal, we shine the spotlight on the immigrant experience. And, as a cultural exchange, get them to share food recipes they hold dear.
Our expat this week is Laura Buterleviciute from Lithuania. The Ballinasloe girl credits Ireland with her coming of age experience.
It is hard to fit her personality in one box, there's a duality to Laura Buterleviciute. Her thick accent tricks you into believing she is an Irish lassie, until she starts to talk about Eastern European beauty aesthetic and emphasis on a well-groomed look. She is simple, yet unconventional. A culinary school graduate, she ends up as an entrepreneur in the beauty industry. Ten years ago, she couldn't wait to leave Lithuania and explore the world, today she has come to value the slow, meaningful life that her homeland offers. Even her surname has a dichotomy to it. Originating from 'buter' meaning butter in Lithuanian, the surname indicates a potential historical connection to dairy farming or butter production; yet there's regal roots. "I come from a royal bloodline, at some point in history we were an aristocratic family. In fact, there's only one Buterleviciute family in all of Lithuania, and everyone with this surname in the world is related," Laura tells me. The Ballinasloe resident is writing her story one paradox at a time.
A Wonderland Called Home
When she was describing her childhood to me, I gasped at the fairytale beauty of it. Laura grew up in an arcadian home in a tiny village, an hour's drive from the Baltic coast. "It was a small village where everyone knew everyone. I come from a big family, with five siblings, who lived on a farm. From cherries to carrots, beets, cabbages, potatoes, onions, everything we ate was homegrown, which we planted and harvested as a family. Even the meat we consumed came from chickens and pigs we raised on our farm. We would go to the forest to pick mushrooms and hazelnuts during season," Laura recalls a childhood that smells of honey.
Her family, she says, was into beekeeping until someone robbed a good chunk of their bee families (I am stoked at the possibility of a world where bees are valuable enough to be stolen). "During peak season we would produce 500l of honey. My father would teach me about the cycle of life using bees as an example," she adds.
Her home was a century-old wooden cottage which relied on medieval heating mechanisms to beat the -30 degree winters. "But there was so much beauty all around. Summertime was spent swimming in the lakes, while skiing was a winter speciality," Laura shares with me through the screen. I wondered if she could catch the awe in my eyes on the video call interview.
Sailing The World, Docking in Ireland
Despite the tremendous beauty, the Lithuania of her time lacked in opportunities. There was only one vocation in her village, to run a convenience store, of which one was enough to serve the hamlet. So Laura moved to Klaipėda, the nearest city, to study at a culinary school. She also worked at the cafe/restaurant of an aquarium, a big tourist attraction in the town, where she made friends with two dolphins. "They're very intelligent and dog-like in behaviour," says Laura, who later started to work at a supermarket. With no dolphins to keep her company, the long work-hours, the tiring work and the meagre pay broke her spirit. "I worked 12-14 hour shifts, during Christmas season for a salary of 340 euros per month. After paying my rent and bills I wasn't left with enough money to sustain a basic life," she says.
Disenchanted she decided to leave the job, and Lithuania, the first chance she gets. In 2017 her cousin, who worked in Ireland then, told her about a cleaner's job. "I jumped at the opportunity and landed in Ballinasloe," says Laura who was 20 at the time. One of the biggest cultural shocks she noted was the pub-demographics. "Back home you see mostly young people in bars and pubs, while in Ireland the majority is much older. As for younger people, I found their obsession with fake tan very amusing. But I loved the simple and laidback attitude of the Irish people. I also admire the sense of community Ireland has," Laura explains. After an initial stint at the cleaning job, she began working at a local restaurant to improve her English and integrate better, before rising in rank and joining a Galway restaurant as a manager. But destiny had other plans, on another island.
When Home Is A Person
Beginning from her village in Lithuania, Laura's path covered Klaipeda, Ballinasloe, Galway, bringing her to Mallorca and Tenerife in Spain. "It was going good in Galway, I had a good job, a boyfriend, but somehow the place lacked in terms of stability. I was heartbroken to leave Galway but did so anyway to work as a bar staff in Spain," says Laura, who can connect the dots in retrospect, for life's big plan for her. On the sunny beaches she meets a besotted English boy who tells himself that this is the woman he will marry (at first sight). "He was a tourist. When he asked me out I told him we'll go out when you're back in Spain. He kept returning, almost every weekend, for the next few months. We fell in love and last year we got married," Laura summarises her love story. The couple, despite marriage have to bear temporary distance. Freddie, her husband, has a business in England, while Laura has one here. For reasons practical and Visa-logical, they live on either side of the Irish Sea, visiting each other on weekends and breaks, knowing that a time to build a home and family is inching closer.
In Freddie, Laura finds an anchor, a foundation, a yin to her yang. "He is a great balance to me. I am rooted in reality but he is a dreamer, very driven, and charismatic. In fact, I owe my entrepreneurial journey to him. I was always very artsy with nails, but it was him who motivated me into doing a course. In fact he gifted me a course to take it up professionally. He's so supportive that he even modelled for me, letting me do nail art on his hands. His family is great too, so gentle and different from my typical Eastern European family," Laura continues. It is heartwarming and magical to hear a person in love talk about their beloved. Given the present times, Laura's story is an important reminder of keeping hope, that there's always going to be people who cross seas for love, not oil.
If you, or someone you know, are an immigrant with a story to share write to us at editor@westmeathindependent.ie, or navjyoti.d@gmail.com
Recipe: Šaltibarščiai (Cold Beet Soup)
This traditional Lithuanian dish is especially popular during the warm summer months. The refreshing cold soup is loved for its vibrant pink colour, creamy texture, and slightly tangy flavour. A staple in Lithuanian households, this soup scores high on health metrics and is both a probiotic and a prebiotic.
Ingredients:
500g cooked beetroot (grated)
1 litre kefir (or buttermilk)
2–3 medium cucumbers (finely chopped)
4 boiled eggs (halved or chopped)
4–5 spring onions (chopped)
Small bunch of fresh dill (chopped)
Salt and black pepper (to taste)
To serve:
6–8 medium potatoes (boiled, served hot on the side)
Preparation:
In a large bowl, mix the kefir with the grated beets until fully combined and smooth. Add the chopped cucumber, dill, and spring onions, then season lightly with salt to taste. Stir everything together well and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30–60 minutes so the flavours can develop. Serve cold in bowls, topped with boiled eggs. Traditionally enjoyed alongside hot boiled potatoes.