S. Banaitis Scholarship – For Research in Gastronomic Culture

On October 9, the seventh Saliamonas Banaitis Scholarship, named after the signatory of the Act of Independence of the Republic of Lithuania, was awarded to Kotryna Sarapinaitė, a master’s student in Central Eastern European and Lithuanian History at the Faculty of Humanities of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU). The scholarship was granted to her for her research into Lithuanian and global gastronomic culture.

During her bachelor’s studies, the scholarship recipient, K. Sarapinaitė, focused on the confectionery industry of interwar Kaunas and its development. In her research, she sought not only to understand the general gastronomic landscape but also to delve into the evolution of specific social, economic, mental, and cultural aspects, revealing the subtleties of both the private and public lives of Lithuanian political figures, such as S. Banaitis. Currently, as a master’s student, she continues to explore various fields of gastronomy, with her master’s thesis examining the evolution of Kaunas’ confectionery industry in the 1990s and even the city’s criminal underworld’s taste preferences.

In addition to her academic work, K. Sarapinaitė also contributes to social initiatives and the activities of public organizations

The scholarship recipient dreams of earning a doctoral degree one day, but she mentions that she fully understands how much effort is required to achieve that: ‘Every time I write a paper, I worry that it should have “weight,” and gastronomic research can sometimes seem quite sentimental. That’s why it’s important to find an approach that goes beyond just a recipe description—to conduct a study about how people’s attitudes changed, how food united or divided society, and about how and why we eat the way we do today.’

In addition to her academic work, K. Sarapinaitė also contributes to social initiatives and the activities of public organizations. While working at the Kaunas Regional State Archives, she is involved in the promotion and dissemination of historical fragments from the First Independent Lithuania period, including events related to S. Banaitis.

The Saliamonas Banaitis Scholarship was established at the university in 2016 by his grandchildren living in Canada, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the restoration of Lithuanian statehood. Its purpose is to support and encourage the most talented university students who conduct research related to the personalities, organizations, events, or processes of the First Independent Republic of Lithuania (1918–1940) that are in some way connected with the activities and environment of S. Banaitis, a signatory of the Act of Independence.

The first S. Banaitis Scholarship was awarded in 2016 to Neringa Krikščiūnaitė, a graduate of the Master’s Degree Programme in Art Curatorship at the Faculty of Arts, Vytautas Magnus University. She focused on and researched the work of the interwar Lithuanian artist Marija Minginaitė. The second scholarship, awarded in 2018, went to Gediminas Kasparavičius, a PhD student in History at the Faculty of Humanities, for his research on the history of the Lithuanian Steamboat Company.

In 2020, the third scholarship was awarded to Gerda Pilipaitytė, a PhD student in Philology at VMU, for her research paper, ‘The Work of Julija Pranaitytė: The Relationship Between Nationalism and Interculturalism.’ In 2021, the scholarship was awarded to Paulina Okunytė, a Master’s student in Creative Industries at the Faculty of Arts, for her research on the development of Lithuanian culture and family economy. In 2022, the scholarship was awarded to Greta Dirsė, a student in the Master’s Degree Programme in East-Central European and Lithuanian Historical Studies at the Faculty of Humanities, for her research on the activities of the disseminators of Eastern culture in interwar Lithuania.

The sixth S. Banaitis Scholarship was awarded to three recipients: Dalel Laachi, a master’s student in Business Logistics at the Faculty of Bioeconomy Development, Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, for innovative technological methods in the field of transport logistics; Ndiapa Sigalla Williams, a graduate in Business Logistics from the same faculty, for smart technology solutions used in logistics; and Hirotaka Tamura, a graduate in Future Media and Journalism from the Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, VMU, for work in the field of information transmission and dissemination in the digital age.

Saliamonas Banaitis (1866-1933) was a public and state figure of independent Lithuania, a member of the Council of Lithuania, a signatory of the Act of Independence of the Republic of Lithuania, and a former student of Vytautas Magnus University.