In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in the creation of the Lithuanian national
identity, ethnolinguistic ‘Lithuanianness’ performed a key role, and its core constituents were
related with the agricultural culture of Lithuanian-speaking peasants/farmers. The roots of
this identity date back to the Enlightenment and Romanticism movements, when the idea
of the ‘noble savage’ was being promoted, which elevated humans who were not spoiled by
civilization, yet living in the vicinity of nature and leading a lifestyle based on the rhythm of nature. These ideas served as the background for an opposition between Lithuanian identity
and the tavern/inn (in all of its manifestations, involving such catering institutions as the café
and the restaurant). Impact on the development of opposition between the Lithuanian and
the inn was also made by the historic reality of the proliferation of inns and the temperance
(i.e., sobriety) movement initiated by Bishop Motiejus Valančius.
The article explores the communication of the inn, tavern, café, restaurant and teahouse
in the interwar Lithuanian magazine Moteris (The Woman). It has been established that
negative narratives were predominant, which related catering institutions with alcohol
abuse, immoral lifestyle, prostitution, wasting time and money, horrible manners, lack
of education and absence of religious feelings. Attending a catering institution was presented
primarily as a feature that could be observed in men, which was inappropriate
for a woman, and extremely harmful to young women/girls. In this negative context, the
difference between specific types of catering institutions (a tavern, an inn, a beer house,
a café, a restaurant) in terms of their interpretation is minor. Intense modernization of
the gastronomy culture, which took place in interwar Lithuania, had only a minor impact
on changes in the negative image of catering institutions.
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